Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has officially announced a social media ban for children under 15. Users born after 2012 will lose access to top apps, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. If the parliament, dominated by the center-right New Democracy party, passes the bill this summer, the new law will take effect on January 1, 2027.
The Greek head of state justifies this drastic move with hard scientific data and growing concerns over minors’ mental health. He pointed out that children are suffering from cyberbullying, addictive app mechanics, and chronic sleep deprivation. He also cited complaints from teachers warning that overstimulated students are showing up to class completely drained of energy.
Prime Minister Mitsotakis has already sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, calling for a unified European age verification system by 2027. Elsewhere in Europe, the French and Spanish are pushing similar agendas. Meanwhile, according to YouGov polling cited by The Guardian, 53% of the public in Poland supports banning social media for children under 16.
Situation in US is not that straightforward
The fallout from social media on youth is equally visible in the United States, where state-level experiments and legal battles are unfolding. In the US, however, the initiative lies primarily with individual states rather than top-down federal mandates – though the Kids Off Social Media Act, which targets accounts of children under 13 and algorithmic content recommendations, remains under debate in Congress.
So far, Florida has taken the most aggressive stance. On January 1, 2025, a law went into effect banning social media use for children under 14, while 14- and 15-year-olds require explicit parental consent. Tech companies were even mandated to delete underage accounts. However, attempts to enforce these rules collided with American civil liberties. In June 2025, a federal judge blocked the Florida law, ruling it could violate First Amendment free speech rights while the case awaits a final verdict.
In other parts of the US, state governments are adopting slightly different strategies. At the start of 2026, Virginia rolled out regulations requiring platforms to limit screen time for users under 16 to just one hour a day, unless parents override the cap. States like Utah, Arkansas, and Louisiana have also passed age-regulation bills for online platforms. Across the board, the main point of friction remains the technical side of verifying user data and the resistance from Big Tech, which is flooding federal courts with lawsuits against the new mandates. For now, it is clear that getting these laws on the books is far easier than actually enforcing them.