Greece has announced plans to ban access to social media for under-15s, becoming the latest European country to restrict children's exposure to online platforms.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the move was aimed at tackling rising anxiety and sleep problems among young people, as well as what he described as the addictive design of social media.
The restriction will come into force from January of next year.
In December, Australia became the first country in the world to require TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and other top sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, or face heavy fines. France, Austria, and Spain are among a growing number of nations pursuing similar curbs.
The UK government has launched a consultation on whether to implement a ban for under-16s, while Ireland and Denmark are considering similar measures.
Social media companies argue that blanket bans will be ineffective, difficult to enforce, and could isolate vulnerable teenagers. Reddit is challenging Australia's law in court.
In a video message posted on TikTok, Mitsotakis said, Many young people tell me they feel exhausted from comparisons, from comments, from the pressure to always be online. He further noted that parents have reported their children suffer from poor sleep, anxiety, and excessive phone usage.
Calling the planned restriction difficult but necessary, he emphasized that the aim was not to distance youth from technology that can offer inspiration and knowledge but to mitigate the harmful effects of addictive designs employed by certain applications.
Mitsotakis also highlighted intentions to pursue a common European framework to protect minors, advocating for mandatory age verification and regular age checks across platforms.
The debate surrounding children's use of social media has intensified recently, driven by mounting evidence of its adverse effects on mental health.
In March, Meta and YouTube were found liable in a landmark US trial concerning a woman's childhood addiction to social media platforms, with jurors determining that such companies intentionally built addictive environments detrimental to users' mental well-being.
Meta and Google disputed the verdict, planning to appeal, asserting that teen mental health complexity cannot be attributed solely to individual applications.
