Greece passes its under-15 social media ban, minus the age-check duty the European Commission objected to

Greece's Parliament has passed a ban on children under 15 using social media, to start on 1 January 2027.¹⁷¹⁸ ERT reported the plenary vote at 01:03 on Friday 23 October 2026, but by our check that day the law had not yet been published in the Government Gazette (Φύλλο Εφημερίδας της Κυβερνήσεως, ΦΕΚ, Fyllo Efimeridas tis Kyverniseos), where Greek laws appear with their number.¹⁷³⁰ The bill Parliament passed is not the one Greece sent to Brussels in May: by our comparison of the two texts, the version tabled on 9 October 2026 drops the rules on age checks and enforcement that the European Commission challenged in August.²⁵⁷

How did Parliament vote?

Greece's Parliament passed the bill by majority after a debate that ERT and Mononews put at more than 16 hours; ERT reported the result at 01:03 on Friday 23 October 2026.¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹ Only New Democracy voted for the bill in principle.¹⁸ PASOK voted "present", while SYRIZA, Greek Solution (Ελληνική Λύση, Elliniki Lysi), KKE, Niki and Plefsi Eleftherias voted against.^17181920 The reports give each party's position but no vote count.¹⁷¹⁸ Parliament's page for the bill shows the "debate and vote" stage dated 22 October 2026, but Parliament had not yet listed the bill among voted bills when we checked on 23 October 2026.¹

PASOK tabled an amendment proposing age-graded access to social media.¹⁸²⁵ Akis Skertsos, the Minister of State, rejected it as "anti-EU and dilatory", saying it "puts us outside the European framework" (in our translation).²³²⁴

In the plenary, Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said: "We owe our children their childhood. That is what we are doing today" (in our translation).¹⁸²⁹ He called it a "necessary, effective, proportionate" solution "compatible with EU law" (in our translation).¹⁷²⁰

What did the committees recommend?

The Standing Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice (Διαρκής Επιτροπή Δημόσιας Διοίκησης, Δημόσιας Τάξης και Δικαιοσύνης, Diarkis Epitropi Dimosias Dioikisis, Dimosias Taxis kai Dikaiosynis) examined the bill jointly with the Standing Committee on Social Affairs (Διαρκής Επιτροπή Κοινωνικών Υποθέσεων, Diarkis Epitropi Koinonikon Ypotheseon) from 16 October 2026.³¹ Parliament's page lists committee sessions on 13, 16, 19 and 21 October 2026.¹ ERT, the public broadcaster, had reported on 10 October 2026 that the committee would begin examining the bill on Tuesday 13 October.⁸

In their report dated 21 October 2026, the committees proposed accepting the bill by majority and recommended that Parliament pass it "as it stands" (ως έχει, in our translation), without committee amendments.³¹ΕΛ At committee stage, the majority rapporteur, Zoi Rapti of New Democracy, recommended a yes; the KKE and Plefsi Eleftherias speakers voted against; and the minority rapporteur, Stefanos Parastatidis of PASOK, along with Greek Solution, SYRIZA and Niki, reserved their position for the plenary.¹³¹ The committees heard bodies including the Data Protection Authority, ΕΣΡ, ΕΕΤΤ, the Ombudsman for Children, the Bioethics Committee, WHO Greece, the cybercrime police and Andreas Schleicher of the OECD.³¹

Did the text change before the vote?

The committees sent the bill to the plenary without amendments, according to their report.³¹ Parliament's research department, the Scientific Service (Επιστημονική Υπηρεσία της Βουλής, Epistimoniki Ypiresia tis Voulis), describes the bill after committee as three chapters and six articles, with an age-verification function that "may" be used, not one that must be.³² Parliament's page still says the published copy of the bill is not the final text, pending spelling and syntax corrections.¹ We found no press report of amendments accepted in the plenary, and Skertsos rejected PASOK's amendment, but Parliament has not yet published the voted text, so we could not compare it with the tabled bill.²³²⁴¹

What does the tabled bill say?

The bill, «Απαγόρευση χρήσης επιγραμμικών υπηρεσιών κοινωνικής δικτύωσης από ανηλίκους» ("Prohibition of the use of online social networking services by minors"), was tabled in the Hellenic Parliament (Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Vouli ton Ellinon) by the Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, on 9 October 2026.¹ It has six articles and is signed by four ministers and a deputy minister, including Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis and Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou.² Skertsos, Georgiadis and Papastergiou presented the plan on 8 April 2026.¹⁵

The core rule bans access to "online social networking services provided by online platforms" (in our translation) for minors who have not reached the age of 15.²ΕΛ It is added as a new article 4Α to law 5099/2024,² the Greek law that applies the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA).⁷ For the ban, 1 January counts as the birthday of everyone born in the same calendar year.² By our calculation, on 1 January 2027 children born in 2012 count as 15 and may use these services, while children born in 2013 or later may not.

The bill does not list any apps.² In April 2026 the government's question-and-answer note gave Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as examples.¹⁴ A 28-question note that Lawspot attributes to the Ministry of Digital Governance (Υπουργείο Ψηφιακής Διακυβέρνησης, Ypourgeio Psifiakis Diakyvernisis), published by Insider.gr and Newsbomb on 12 October 2026, says the bill contains no closed list of named services and gives Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn as examples.²⁶²⁷²⁸ The tabled text contains no exception for parental consent, by our reading.²

What changed after the Commission objected?

Greece notified a first draft to the European Commission on 8 May 2026 under the EU procedure for national rules on online services.⁶ By our comparison, these parts of that draft are missing from the tabled bill.²⁷

• The definitions article, which tied "online platform" and "online social networking service" to EU law, is gone.²⁷
• The draft required platforms to apply "appropriate, proportionate and reliable" age-verification methods.⁵⁷ΕΛ The tabled bill says only that the age-verification function of the state's digital document repository (article 80 of law 4954/2022) or of the Kids Wallet app "may be used" (δύναται να γίνεται χρήση, in our translation).² The May draft cited the same article 80 for the Gov.gr Wallet app, and the impact analysis names Gov.gr Wallet; the tabled text does not.²³⁷
• A paragraph letting platforms add age-estimation methods has been removed.²⁷
• The clause applying the DSA's own enforcement chapter (Chapter IV) to the ban is gone.²⁷ Instead, the National Council for Radio and Television (Εθνικό Συμβούλιο Ραδιοτηλεόρασης, ΕΣΡ, Ethniko Symvoulio Radiotileorasis), the broadcasting regulator, and the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (Αρχή Προστασίας Δεδομένων Προσωπικού Χαρακτήρα, ΑΠΔΠΧ, Archi Prostasias Dedomenon Prosopikou Charaktira) would supervise it with powers under law 5099/2024.²
• The tabled text no longer mentions the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (Εθνική Επιτροπή Τηλεπικοινωνιών και Ταχυδρομείων, ΕΕΤΤ, Ethniki Epitropi Tilepikoinonion kai Tachydromeion), the telecoms regulator, which the draft tasked with passing cases against platforms based abroad to their home regulator.²⁷ The impact analysis says ΕΕΤΤ remains the coordinator under the wider law, and complaints against platforms based abroad are still forwarded to their home regulator under existing rules.³

The main addition is a sunset clause: the law lapses automatically if an EU regulation on the same matter is adopted.²ΕΛ The bill's regulatory impact analysis says the Commission's opinion "was taken into account in reshaping the draft" (in our translation).³

What did the European Commission object to?

The Commission's detailed opinion, C(2026) 5770 final, is dated 7 August 2026 and signed by Executive Vice-President Ekaterina Zaharieva.⁵ Under the DSA, it did not object to the age limit itself.⁵ It called a minimum age for social networking services "a worthy objective" and said provisions limited to setting one "do not conflict with Article 28 DSA".⁵

The Commission said obligations on platforms to verify and estimate age "are exhaustively regulated by the DSA".⁵

It also said that using the DSA's enforcement machinery for national rules "would defy their purpose".⁵ Under the e-commerce Directive, it said the draft's obligations appeared to be general rules applying to providers based in other member states, and that such rules cannot use the Directive's exception (Article 3(4)) that lets a country act against a service based elsewhere.⁵ It warned that if the text were adopted without account being taken of its objections, it "may commence proceedings pursuant to Article 258 TFEU", the EU's infringement procedure.⁵

The Commission added that, where a minimum age is set, access restrictions backed by age verification are, in the Commission's view, an appropriate and proportionate measure for platforms under Article 28(1) of the DSA.⁵ The impact analysis says the provision applies in a "technologically neutral" way, imposes no method, and treats Kids Wallet and Gov.gr Wallet as suitable examples (in our translation).³

What did Greece tell the Commission in October?

Greece's reply to the Commission's detailed opinion was forwarded through TRIS, the EU's notification system for national rules on online services, on 19 October 2026 as message TRIS/(2026) 2943.¹⁶ The letter is signed by Skertsos and Papastergiou and addressed to Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen.¹⁶

In it, the Greek authorities say the minimum-age requirement was kept "without introducing additional national obligations" on the ways providers must comply (in our translation).¹⁶ΕΛ They say the separate national obligation on age-verification methods has been removed, while the age of 15 and the birth-year rule remain.¹⁶ They also say ΕΕΤΤ's duty to forward cross-border cases is gone, that ΕΣΡ and ΑΠΔΠΧ supervise the new article 4Α with their existing powers under law 5099/2024, and that the bill sets up no separate cross-border mechanism.¹⁶

Greece confirmed the 1 January 2027 start date and said it had not adopted the rules before the EU standstill period ended on 11 September 2026.¹⁶ It promised to notify the final text to the Commission after adoption, under Article 5(3) of Directive (EU) 2015/1535.¹⁶

What have ministers said about age checks?

On 22 October 2026, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis posted a video addressed in part to the platforms: "you have a responsibility to check users' age reliably, with full protection of privacy. And you have 2.5 months ahead of you to do it" (in our translation).²¹²² He said the measure concerns social media, not phone use in general or other apps.²¹²²

Greece's reply to the Commission, forwarded on 19 October 2026, says its reference to Gov.gr Wallet and Kids Wallet, kept only as examples, "is not intended to create any legal obligation for providers to use, integrate or in any other way rely on" either app (in our translation).¹⁶ΕΛ The tabled bill sets no compliance deadline other than the 1 January 2027 start.²

In the plenary, Papastergiou said Kids Wallet gives platforms no personal data about children or other users, "only whether they are over or under 15" (in our translation).¹⁷¹⁹²⁰

Skertsos told Parliament on 22 October 2026 that the bill "has received the approval of the European Commission" and imposes "strict rules and fines" on platforms (in our translation).²³²⁴ We found no Commission document approving the bill: the EU notification record lists Greece's 19 October 2026 reply as the latest message, after the Commission's detailed opinion of 7 August 2026.⁶¹⁶⁵ The impact analysis says the bill creates no new administrative fines.³

Who would enforce the ban, and can Greece fine a platform?

ΕΣΡ and ΑΠΔΠΧ would supervise the ban with the powers of article 11(2) of law 5099/2024.² The impact analysis says the bill creates no new supervisory mechanism, no new system of administrative sanctions and no new administrative fines.³ A platform established in Greece answers to the Greek authorities.³ For a platform established in another member state, a complaint can be filed in Greece; ΕΕΤΤ, as Digital Services Coordinator, passes it to that country's regulator, which investigates and imposes any penalties.³

The General Accounting Office (Γενικό Λογιστήριο του Κράτους, Geniko Logistirio tou Kratous) says public revenue "may increase if the sanctions provided for (fines, periodic penalty payments etc.) are imposed" (in our translation).⁴ The bill itself does not say which penalties ΕΣΡ and ΑΠΔΠΧ could impose for a breach of the ban.² In April 2026 the government's note cited penalties of up to 6% of global turnover under the DSA framework, a figure Proto Thema put in its headline.¹³¹⁴

What happens if the EU passes its own law?

The Greek law "ceases automatically" if an EU regulation on the same matter is adopted (in our translation).² The bill ties this to the adoption of such a regulation, while the impact analysis speaks of its entry into force.²³ The impact analysis says the clause avoids parallel rules and discusses the Commission's EU KIDS Act proposal of 17 September 2026.³ That proposal sets a harmonised minimum age of 15 but allows parents to set up accounts with limited features for children aged 13 to 15.¹¹ Papastergiou estimated that the EU framework would take about 20 months to be voted.⁹

What does it mean for families?

Parents have nothing to do now: Parliament passed the bill on 23 October 2026, but it is not yet published and the ban applies from 1 January 2027.¹⁷² The ministry's question-and-answer note says accounts created before the start date get no exemption, and that the Greek provisions set no new fine or penalty for children or parents; it adds that supervision and enforcement concern the providers.²⁶²⁷²⁸ That is the ministry's reading: the law itself says nothing about existing accounts.² Papastergiou has said Kids Wallet tells a platform only whether a user is above or below the age limit, not their date of birth; that is his description, not the bill's text.⁹¹⁰

What happens next?

By our check on 23 October 2026, the law had not appeared in the Government Gazette; the most recent numbered law we found there was 5347/2026, published in ΦΕΚ Α' 173 on 21 October 2026.³⁰ Greece has told the Commission it will notify the final text after adoption.¹⁶ The ban is due to apply from 1 January 2027, and the law ends automatically if an EU regulation on the same matter is adopted.²¹⁶ In April 2026, a Reuters report carried by Cyprus Mail said Greece's parliament would legislate the ban in mid-2026; the plenary vote came on 23 October 2026.¹²¹⁷