Tightening of social media rules in Greece as well. Athens will ban access to social networks for under-15s starting January 1, 2027. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced this in a video shared on TikTok. “We have decided to move forward with a difficult but necessary measure: to prohibit access to social networks for children under 15,” he explained, specifying that the law will be approved this summer and the ban will take effect on January 1, 2027.

Greece is “among the first countries in the world to adopt such a measure,” the prime minister said, adding that he is urging the European Union to follow this initiative. In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Mitsotakis argued that “national action alone will not be sufficient. A unified European framework must be in place by the end of 2026 to complete and strengthen national initiatives adopted to protect minors,” he added.

The Greek prime minister specifically proposes establishing a European “digital age of majority” at 15 and, at EU level, banning access to social platforms for users below that threshold. He also wants to require platforms to perform an age verification every six months.

Australia was the first country to legislate on the issue and to adopt a rule that came into force at the end of 2025 requiring platforms to verify that users are at least 16 years old and to remove accounts of underage users. Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, Snapchat, TikTok, as well as Twitch and its Australian competitor Kick, have complied with the new regulation under penalty of fines up to 28 million. To protect teenagers from algorithms that foster addiction on social networks, France is also moving in this direction, as are Denmark and Spain. The Greek prime minister chose a social network popular with young people to make the announcement and spoke directly to them: “I know some of you will be angry. Our goal is not to drive you away from technology, but to fight the addiction caused by certain apps that harms your innocence and your freedom,” he stressed. “The science is clear: when a child spends hours in front of screens, their brain does not rest,” he added. To parents, Mitsotakis also assured that this measure “is only a tool that will never replace their presence.”