PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the ban in a TikTok video on Wednesday. It takes effect on 1 January 2027. Enforcement will rely on a state-mandated app on every device. Around 80% of Greeks support the measure, according to a February poll.
Greece has announced it will ban children under 15 from accessing social media platforms, with the prohibition coming into force on 1 January 2027.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made the announcement on Wednesday in a video posted to TikTok, a deliberate choice, he said, to reach teenagers directly before the ban removes them from the platform. The legal framework is expected to be in place by mid-2026.
The ban will apply regardless of parental consent, closing an exemption that has weakened similar restrictions in other jurisdictions. Enforcement will be handled through a state-mandated application installed on all personal devices, giving the measure a technical rather than purely regulatory teeth.
The scope extends beyond social media to include protection from online gambling, alcohol and tobacco promotion, and explicit content. Mitsotakis told his young audience: “Our aim is not to keep you away from technology but to combat addiction to certain applications that harms your innocence and your freedom.”
The announcement has been in the making for several weeks. In March, Mitsotakis told a Bloomberg event in Athens that the evidence was “unambiguous” and that “addictive scrolling is damaging to their mental health.”
Wednesday’s TikTok video confirmed the decision and set the implementation date. The Greek government has already moved in this direction before the formal ban: mobile phones have been outlawed in schools, and parental control platforms have been established to limit teenagers’ screen time.
A poll by ALCO published in February found approximately 80% of Greeks surveyed backed a ban.
Greece becomes one of a small number of countries to move from stated intent to formal law on child social media access. Australia was the first country in the world to implement such a ban, blocking children under 16 in 2025.
Slovenia, Britain, Austria, and Spain have since announced they are working on similar legislation. Mitsotakis explicitly framed Greece’s move as a bid to shift European Union policy:
“Our goal is to push the European Union in this direction as well,” he said, describing Greece as among the first countries to take such an initiative but expressing confidence that it would not be the last.
