Greece has announced plans to ban social media for under-15s from 2027.
The country’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, confirmed the ban today and said it would be implemented to tackle the “addictive design” of social media.
The ban will begin on January 1, 2027.
Mitsotakis announced the move in a short social video posted this morning. In the video, the Prime Minister said: “Many young people tell me they feel exhausted from comparisons, from comments, from the pressure to always be online.”
He added: “Greece will be among the first countries to take such an initiative. I am certain, however, that it will not be the last. Our goal is to push the European Union in this direction as well.”
Mitsotakis described the restrictions as “difficult but necessary.”
“The addictive design of certain applications, and a business model based on capturing your attention – on how long you stay in front of a screen – takes away your innocence and your freedom. That has to stop somewhere,” he said.
Australia became the first country in the world to order social media sites to remove accounts held by under-16s. If companies do not comply with the ban, they could be fined up to A$50M ($32.5M). The UK government has since launched a consultation on whether to implement a similar social media ban for under-16s.