Greece joins push to ban social media for minors | Social Media News

A rising variety of international locations are tightening guidelines governing kids’s on-line exercise amid fears of habit.

The Greek parliament has handed a regulation banning the usage of social media by individuals below the age of 15.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s social gathering, New Democracy, used its majority to cross the invoice on Friday. None of the opposite political events backed the invoice in a heated debate that began on Thursday, even though a rising group of nations worldwide have launched restrictions on minors.

Greece’s new legal guidelines will come into impact on January 1 2027. It would require age verification on social networks and impose harsh penalties ought to corporations fail to conform.

Mitsotakis beforehand introduced plans for the ban in April, taking to TikTok, one of the well-liked social networks with younger individuals in Greece, to elucidate the “troublesome however essential” measure that his authorities deliberate to take.

The opposition socialist PASOK social gathering abstained from the vote, after searching for an alternate invoice that may have banned social media for under-13s and parental controls for 13- and 14-year-olds.

The ban brings Greece into line with about 20 international locations that now limit entry to social media apps for younger individuals. Australia, France, Brazil, Indonesia, Austria, Denmark, and the UK are amongst those who have both launched or plan comparable restrictions.

Critics say social networks use addictive algorithms to connect youngsters to their screens, and warn extreme scrolling can harm their psychological well being.

Bans have additionally confronted pushback although, with questions on their enforcement and the way efficient they are surely.