Greece approves social media ban for children under 15

Greece’s parliament approved a law banning children under 15 from using social media, with the restriction scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. Platforms will be required to verify users’ ages, including for accounts children already hold, and parental permission will not exempt a child from the ban. The bill was approved on October 22 after a parliamentary debate lasting more than 16 hours. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ governing New Democracy party supported it. PASOK abstained, while the other parliamentary groups voted against it. The law covers social networks including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Its scope is determined by how a service functions, rather than simply by its name, and additional services may be brought under the rules. The government has given platforms roughly two and a half months to prepare age-verification systems. Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said the government’s Kids Wallet app would provide platforms with only a yes-or-no indication of whether a user is at least 15. He said it would not share the user’s name or date of birth. Platforms are responsible for carrying out age checks, while Greece’s...