Parliament passes the bill

Greece's parliament approved a bill late on 22 October that bars children under 15 from social networks, with the ban set to take effect on 1 January 2027. The debate ran for more than 16 hours before the vote. Only the governing New Democracy backed the measure, PASOK abstained, and SYRIZA, Greek Solution, the Communist Party, Niki and Course of Freedom voted against it. Athens presents the law as the state joining parents in curbing doomscrolling, the endless feed that cuts into children's sleep, concentration and time spent with people face to face.

How the age rule works

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has given platforms about two and a half months to build an age-verification system that protects user privacy. Under the reference-date rule, 1 January counts as the birthday for everyone born in the same calendar year, so children born in 2012 meet the age criterion from 1 January 2027 even if their 15th birthday comes later that year. Facebook, Instagram and TikTok fall under the ban, and whether a given service is covered depends on how it works rather than what it is called. Parents cannot grant their children permission to use the platforms, and existing accounts get no exemption. Where a platform cannot establish a user's age, it displays a QR code linked to Kids Wallet, a government app that tells the platform only whether the user is over or under 15.

Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou defended the design when the government presented it, insisting the system shares no personal data with platforms.

“We do not give platforms any of our children's personal data whatsoever.”

Government case and opposition

Papastergiou argued that waiting for a perfect European law would have meant doing nothing, and he pointed to earlier curbs on alcohol and tobacco sales, which he said had limited sales within the first months. Akis Skertsos, the minister of state who initiated the bill, told parliament that the country could no longer afford to wait:

“We don't have any more time to waste.”

Skertsos also said the bill follows a proposal from the European Commission, which he linked to pressure from Greece, its prime minister and other states. Opposition parties challenged the restrictions on both practical and legal grounds, while the government defended the measure throughout the debate.

Wider context

Australia's ban on social media for under-16s took effect in December 2025. In France, the Constitutional Council struck down an under-15 ban on 14 August, ruling that it went too far in restricting freedom of expression, after the measure had been approved in July. Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Austria and Spain are also debating similar limits, and Greece is one of seven EU countries working with the European Commission on an age-verification tool. Italian broadcaster RAI reported that platforms could face fines of up to 6% of their global turnover for tolerating accounts of under-15s, while The Next Web reported that the law introduces no new fines for children or parents.

What comes next

Platforms have until the 1 January 2027 start date to put age checks in place, within the roughly two and a half months Mitsotakis allowed. Because the rule covers existing accounts, providers will have to confirm the age of every user, whenever the profile was created. Greece's broadcasting council and data protection authority will oversee platforms in the country, while enforcement against the largest services falls to the European Commission under the Digital Services Act. The state Kids Wallet app is not mandatory, since the minister said companies may build their own verification tools.