April 8 (Reuters) - Greece will ban access to social media for children under the age of 15 from January 1, 2027, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday, citing rising anxiety, sleep problems and the addictive design of online platforms.
An opinion poll by ALCO published in February showed about 80% of those surveyed approved of a ban. The Greek government has already outlawed mobile phones in schools and set up parental control platforms to limit teenagers' screen time.
"Greece will be among the first countries to take such an initiative," Mitsotakis said in a video message, adding that he had spoken with parents before making the decision. "I am certain, however, that it will not be the last. Our goal is to push the European Union in this direction as well."
Australia became the world's first country to ban social media for children under 16 in December, blocking access to platforms including TikTok, Alphabet's YouTube and Meta's Instagram and Facebook.
Meta, Snapchat and TikTok have said they continued to believe Australia's ban would not protect young people but committed to complying with it.
Greece cannot yet force those social media platforms to verify the age of its users but it recommends that the platforms use mechanisms the EU and Greece have already set, the government said, urging parents to also assist the effort.
From January 1 2027, platforms will need to be able to restrict users or face fines described in the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) reaching up to 6% of their global turnover, Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said.
Greece's parliament will legislate the ban mid-2026. Other countries are also tightening rules on social media with the United Kingdom, Malaysia, France, Denmark and Poland either considering a ban or in the process of legislating one.
Writing separately to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Mitsotakis called for coordinated European Union action, arguing that national measures alone would not be sufficient to protect minors from internet addiction.
In the letter, he proposed establishing an EU‑wide "digital age of majority" at 15, mandating age verification and regular re-verification for all platforms, and setting up a harmonised enforcement and penalty framework, urging the bloc to put a unified system in place by the end of 2026.
EU countries do not have Australia's flexibility on the matter, State Minister Akis Skertsos during a joint press conference.
"National legislation is linked and influenced to a large extent by EU legislation," he said. "Unless we have an EU legislative framework...national legislation alone will be ineffective."
(Reporting by Antonis Pothitos and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Janane Venkatraman)
