Greece has become one of the first European Union member states to legislate a hard age floor for social media use, with Parliament approving a law Thursday that will bar children under 15 from holding accounts on platforms starting January 1, 2027. The measure, passed with support only from the governing New Democracy party, places Greece alongside Australia in a fast-growing international movement to restrict minors' access to online platforms on mental health grounds.
What the Law Actually Requires
The legislation obliges social media companies to determine, by the start of 2027, whether each account on their platforms belongs to an adult or a minor. Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence Minister Dimitris Papastergiou described the approach as "necessary, effective, proportionate and EU-law-compliant," framing it as comparable to existing age restrictions on alcohol and tobacco sales. Rather than waiting for a unified European framework, which Papastergiou suggested could take years to negotiate, Athens chose to move unilaterally, betting that national action can still operate within the bounds of EU law while Brussels works on broader standards.
Central to enforcement is an application called "Kid's Wallet," built according to technical specifications set at the EU level. Papastergiou was explicit that the tool is designed to reveal only a binary signal - whether a user is above or below the age of 15 - without transmitting dates of birth or other personal data to platforms or authorities. That design choice reflects a broader tension running through every age-verification scheme now under discussion worldwide: the need to confirm age without creating new repositories of sensitive personal data that could themselves become targets for breaches or misuse.
A Fractured Parliament, a Divided Public Debate
The vote exposed sharp political divisions rather than consensus. Opposition parties SYRIZA, Greek Solution, KKE and Niki voted against the bill, as did Freedom Course, while PASOK abstained. The objections were not uniform - some critics have questioned the practicality of enforcement, others the civil liberties implications of mandatory age-verification infrastructure, and others whether the law addresses root causes of youth mental health strain or merely one visible symptom. Papastergiou rejected calls for delay, arguing that "the problem of uncontrolled internet use - which leads children to addiction at the expense of their mental health - cannot continue" while lawmakers wait for an ideal continental solution.
Part of a Wider Global Shift
Greece's law did not emerge in isolation. Australia's decision last year to impose a minimum age for social media use triggered a cascade of similar proposals across multiple jurisdictions, and Greece is now one of seven EU countries pushing for standardized age-verification rules at the bloc level. Advocates of these measures point to concerns about endless-scroll design features, disrupted sleep, shortened attention spans, and reduced time for unstructured play and in-person socializing among children. Critics, meanwhile, warn that age-verification mandates risk normalizing identity-checking infrastructure for everyday internet use, with implications that could eventually extend well beyond protecting minors.
The two-year runway before enforcement begins gives platforms, regulators and families time to adjust, but it also leaves open significant questions about verification accuracy, cross-border enforcement, and how platforms headquartered outside the EU will comply. Those details will likely shape how effective - and how closely imitated - the Greek model becomes.
