Greece will ban under-15s from social media from next year.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis confirmed the ban on Wednesday morning, announcing it would begin on 1 January 2027.
There is widespread support for a ban among adults in Greece, with 80% supporting the restrictions, according to polling firm ALCO.
According to the Greek Safer Internet Centre in Athens, 75% of children using social media in Greece are of primary‑school age.
“Ban them, shut them down. We’ve reached our limits… We parents need help,” one mother told the Reuters news agency before the ban was confirmed.
Georgia Efstathiou, 43, described having tried everything to stop her 14-year-old son from spending so much time on social media as she called on the government to intervene.
Georgia Efstathiou. Pic: Reuters
Another parent, Dimitris Daniil, 44, said he thought a ban should be a last resort.
“I’d prefer a different approach, limiting mobile phone use within the family,” he said.
“But where that’s not possible, perhaps a ban would work as the extreme remedy.”
His 14-year-old daughter Katerina said most teenagers her age have never known a world without social media.
“It is the way we learned since we were born,” she said.
“I can control it – but then again I usually get carried away.”
Dimitris Daniil, 44 and his daughter Katerina. Pic: Reuters
Phones are already banned in Greek schools, unlike the UK, and the government has set up parental control platforms to limit teenagers’ screen time.
In December, Australia banned under-16s from the technology, becoming the first country to do so.
Since then, there have been growing calls around the world for governments to tackle online harms faced by young people.
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A social media ban for children isn’t cut-and-dried case
A number of countries are exploring social media bans, including Slovenia, Spain and Austria, with the UK government consulting the public on social media restrictions.
As well as an all-out ban for under-16s, the consultation also explores restrictions like digital curfews and screen time limits.
The results of that consultation are expected in the summer.
At the same time, a series of landmark legal trials are under way in the US, with the first two major trials recently finding social media companies liable for harming users through addictive features and design.
