Greece Bans Social Media for Under-15s Starting Next Year

Greece announces it will ban social media access for children under 15 starting January next year, joining France, Austria, and Spain in pursuing similar restrictions. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis frames the ban as addressing rising anxiety and sleep problems among youth, calling social media addictive by design and proposing mandatory age verification every six months across all platforms. Mitsotakis has written to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen advocating for a pan-European framework rather than fragmented national approaches. The move follows Australia becoming the first country to require platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat to remove under-16 accounts in December, with heavy fines for non-compliance. Social media companies argue such bans are ineffective and could isolate vulnerable teenagers, while Reddit challenges Australia's law in court and Meta defends against a March US trial verdict finding it intentionally built addictive platforms that harmed youth mental health.

Greece's social media ban for under-15s

• ▪Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece's social media ban aims to tackle rising anxiety and sleep problems among young people.
• ▪Greece announced plans to ban access to social media for under-15s.
• ▪Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed requiring social media platforms to re-check users' ages every six months.
• ▪Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for a common EU framework to protect minors.
• ▪Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described social media as having an addictive design.
• ▪Greece's social media restriction for under-15s will come into force from January of next year.
• ▪Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed a pan-European ban on social media for under-15s.
• ▪Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for mandatory age verification for under-15s across all social media platforms.

Global trend of age restrictions on social media

• ▪Social media companies argue that blanket age bans will be ineffective and difficult to enforce.
• ▪Reddit is challenging Australia's social media age restriction law in court.
• ▪The UK government has launched a consultation on whether to implement a social media ban for under-16s.
• ▪Social media companies argue that blanket age bans could isolate vulnerable teenagers.
• ▪Australia's social media law for under-16s includes heavy fines for non-compliant platforms.
• ▪Australia became the first country in the world to require TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and other top sites to remove accounts held by under-16s in December.

Mental health concerns and platform accountability

• ▪Meta and Google said they disagreed with the verdict in the March social media addiction trial and intended to appeal.
• ▪Meta and YouTube were found liable in a landmark US trial in March over a woman's childhood addiction to social media.

Perspective of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis

• ▪Kyriakos Mitsotakis believes social media platforms are designed to be addictive to young users.
• ▪Kyriakos Mitsotakis argues that rising anxiety among Greek young people is linked to social media use.

Perspective of Meta and Google

• ▪Meta and Google plan to challenge the March 2025 US trial verdict finding them liable for childhood social media addiction.

Perspective of Reddit

• ▪Reddit is pursuing legal action to overturn Australia's under-16 social media access restrictions.

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