Greece is set to prohibit children under the age of 15 from accessing social media from 1 January next year, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced today, reports RTE.
“We have decided to go ahead with a difficult but necessary measure: ban access to social media for children under 15 years old,” he said in a video posted on TikTok, reports RTE.
“Greece is among the first countries in the world to adopt such a measure,” the prime minister said, adding that he would push the European Union to follow suit.
Mitsotakis explained that he had chosen social media to make the announcement in order to speak to teenagers and children directly: “I know that some of you are going to be angry … Our aim is not to keep you away from technology but to combat addiction to certain applications that harms your innocence and your freedom,” reports RTE.
“Science is clear: when a child is in front of screens for hours, their brain does not rest,” he said.
Australia became the first country in the world in December to require TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and other major platforms to remove accounts belonging to under-16s, or face substantial fines, reports RTE.
Indonesia began implementing a social media ban for users under 16 in March and has already issued summons to Google and Meta for failing to comply with the legislation.
Austria announced last month that it would shortly introduce a social media ban for children up to the age of 14, with plans to present a new law “as early as this summer,” reports RTE.
Spain and Denmark have similarly declared their intention to establish a digital age of majority for social networks.
In Ireland, the Government has advocated for a decision to be made at EU level, but has indicated it will act domestically if required, reports RTE.
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