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Greece has announced a plan to block children under 15 from using social media from January 1, 2027. The government says platforms will have to introduce reliable age checks and re-verify existing accounts. The move is part of a wider European push to tighten online protections for minors and reduce risks linked to harmful content and compulsive use.

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Greece plans to ban children under the age of 15 from accessing social media from next year, setting up one of Europe’s most direct restrictions on young users of major platforms. The measure is due to start on January 1, 2027, and will rely on age-verification systems run mainly by the platforms themselves.

Greece’s government said the new framework will prohibit access to social media services for children younger than 15 and require companies to install reliable age-checking tools. It also calls for a broad re-verification of existing accounts so platforms can reassess whether users have declared their ages correctly.

## What the plan would do

The measure is aimed at services where users create profiles, post content and interact publicly. The government said private communication services would not be covered in the same way.

Officials presented the plan as part of a broader effort to address what they describe as digital addiction among minors and to reduce exposure to harmful material. The timetable published by the government points to legislation in the third quarter of 2026, followed by a compliance period for companies later in the year and the start of enforcement in the first quarter of 2027.

The official start date given by the government is January 1, 2027.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been pushing the issue for months, arguing that compulsive scrolling and heavy platform use are harming children’s well-being. The government says the proposal is designed not as a sudden shutdown of young people’s accounts, but as a regulatory framework that will gradually force platforms to change how they operate for minors.

## How enforcement is expected to work

Athens has made clear that Greece will not simply switch platforms off on its own. Because the biggest online platforms operate under European Union digital rules, enforcement will depend heavily on EU procedures and on compliance by the companies themselves.

Under the plan, the main obligation would fall on platforms to deploy trustworthy age-verification systems. Greek authorities would oversee implementation through national regulators and trigger European enforcement channels in cases of non-compliance.

The government has also pointed to its Kids Wallet system as a support tool for parents. That system is meant to help confirm a child’s age and strengthen parental oversight, rather than act as a full substitute for platform-based checks. Officials have described it as an interim solution until the EU Digital Identity Wallet becomes operational, which is expected by the end of 2026.

This means the Greek approach depends on both national tools and a wider European technical framework. In practice, that could make the rollout slower and more complex than the headline ban suggests.

## Why the government says action is needed

Greek officials linked the measure to concerns about cyberbullying, compulsive phone use and the effect of social media on daily life for teenagers. Government material released with the announcement said 17% of children aged 11 to 15 were victims of cyberbullying in 2021-2022. It also said 23% of 15-year-olds reported feeling nervous or insecure without access to their phone, while 20% said social media led them to neglect other important activities such as sports or hobbies.

Earlier data cited by officials and researchers in Greece has also suggested that online access starts young and is already widespread. A 2024 survey by Greek research group KMOP found that 76.6% of children aged 9 to 12 had internet access through personal devices, 58.6% used social media every day, and 22.8% had encountered inappropriate content.

Those figures have helped shape the political case for tighter rules, especially as other governments in Europe and beyond consider similar measures.

## Part of a broader European shift

Greece is not acting in isolation. European governments have been debating how far to go in limiting minors’ access to platforms, and the debate has increasingly focused on age checks, parental consent and platform responsibility.

Greek officials have openly tied their plan to a wider EU push for common standards. The government said the policy would work alongside European mechanisms under existing digital rules and future tools for age assurance. It has also argued for a more unified system across the bloc so companies face the same expectations in different countries.

That wider context matters because it may shape how effective the Greek measure becomes. A national law can set the age threshold, but making it work at scale depends on technical systems, company cooperation and cross-border enforcement.

For now, Greece has set out a clear political signal: if the current timetable holds, children under 15 in the country will face formal barriers to using social media from the start of 2027.

AI Perspective

This story shows how the debate over children and technology is moving from advice to regulation. Greece is trying to turn a broad concern about online harm into enforceable rules, but the real test will be whether age checks work fairly and consistently. The issue is no longer whether governments will act, but how far they are willing to go.