No TikTok and Instagram for under 15s, Greece wants social restrictions (also in Italy)

Greece is among the “first countries in the world to adopt such a measure”the Prime Minister congratulated, also assuring that he is putting pressure on the European Union to follow this initiative. In a letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Mitsotakis argues that “national action alone will not be enough. A unified European framework must be in place by the end of 2026 to complement and strengthen national initiatives taken for the protection of minors”, he adds.

The Greek Prime Minister proposes in particular to establish a European “digital age of majority” at 15 and to ban, at European Union level, access to social platforms for users below this threshold. He would also like to force platforms to carry out age verification every six months.

Australia was the first country to legislate on the issue and to approve a rule that came into force at the end of 2025 that forces platforms to verify that users are at least 16 years old and to delete the accounts of users who are too young. Facebook, Instagram, To protect teenagers from addictive algorithms on social networks, France is also moving in this direction, as are Denmark and Spain. The Greek Prime Minister chose a social network that is very popular among young people to make this announcement and addressed the children directly: “I know that some of you will be angry. Our goal is not to distance you from technology, but to fight the addiction to some applications that damages your innocence and your freedom”, he underlined. “The science is clear: when a child spends hours in front of screens, his brain does not rest,” he added. Mitsotakis also assured parents that this measure “is just a tool that will never replace their presence.”