The Greek government has decided to ban the use of social media by children under the age of 15 from January 1, 2027. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday (April 8).
The Prime Minister said that due to the addictive algorithms of online platforms, anxiety and sleep problems have arisen among children. So this decision has been taken. In a video message, he said, due to long time in front of the screen, children’s mental rest is decreasing and they are under the pressure of comparing and commenting on various issues online.
The Prime Minister of Greece also said that many parents reported that their children could not sleep properly, were less anxious and were busy with mobile phones most of the time.
A poll published last February showed that nearly 80 percent of people voted in favor of the ban. Greece has previously banned the use of mobile phones in schools and introduced parental control measures to limit teenagers’ screen time.
“Greece will be one of the first countries to take this initiative, but not the last,” Mitsotakis said. We want the European Union to come forward in this way.’
Earlier in December last year, Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media for children under the age of 16.
But the companies that operate these platforms say such bans are not enough to ensure the safety of children.
According to a Reuters report, several other countries, including the UK, Malaysia, France, Denmark, Poland, are considering or are in the process of enacting laws to regulate children’s use of social media.
In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Greek prime minister called for concerted action across Europe. He said, only national initiative is not enough. In the letter, he proposed setting the ‘age of digital adulthood’ at 15 across the European Union, making age verification mandatory and creating a unified legal and sentencing framework for all platforms.
