A popular American book, published in 2024, served as a key catalyst for Kyriakos Mitsotakis that ultimately led him to the initiative he announced on Holy Wednesday for the ban on access to social media -namely Facebook, Instagram and TikTok- for children under 15 years old.
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote “The Anxious Generation,” in which he explains, among other things, how the transition from basic to smartphones about fifteen years ago brought an increase in social isolation, sleep deprivation, attention disruption and addiction.
“In Jonathan Haidt’s excellent book ‘The Anxious Generation,’ he analyzes the effects on children’s mental health from the reckless use of mobile phones and social media, which can lead children to internet addiction,” wrote Prime Minister’s wife Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotakis in an Instagram post in August 2024. “Childhood and adolescence tend to be based on a mobile phone, creating multiplying problems for young people in their lives, their development and their interpersonal relationships. We cannot afford to ignore the signs,” she noted in the same post.
One year later, in September 2025, Kyriakos Mitsotakis participated in an event organized by Australia on “Protecting children in the digital age,” within the framework of the High-Level Week of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The 62-year-old New Yorker author was in the audience at this event. “Last summer, my wife asked me to read a book by Jonathan Haidt, who is with us today,” Mr. Mitsotakis said at the beginning of his speech. “I’m sure you know it, the title is ‘The Anxious Generation.’ It was an eye-opening experience, because as I read about the impact that social media has on our children and teenagers, I felt like I was being told the stories that parents themselves tell us at every opportunity. We are conducting the largest uncontrolled experiment ever done with our children’s minds,” he noted later.
On Holy Wednesday morning, with a TikTok post, the Prime Minister announced that the government decided to proceed with “something difficult, but necessary,” banning access to social media for children under 15 years old. At the same time, he sent a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, requesting intervention and legislation at the pan-European level. The Greek regulation will come during the summer of 2026 for discussion and voting in Parliament and will be implemented with the new year, on January 1, 2027.
According to the relevant briefing that followed, the main responsibility for compliance will be borne by the platforms themselves, which will be required to install reliable age verification mechanisms. The Greek state will supervise the implementation through the competent Authorities, specifically the National Telecommunications and Gambling Commission, activating European control mechanisms and imposing sanctions in case of violations. When there is a violation of the legislation, EETT will forward the case to the Digital Services Coordinator of the member state where the platform is established or, as appropriate, to the European Commission. The competent Authorities will evaluate cases and impose corresponding fines and sanctions.
The new legislative initiative will specifically provide for:
- Ban on access to social media for children under 15 years old
- Obligation for platforms to implement reliable age verification mechanisms
- Universal re-verification of existing accounts
During the implementation of the law, platforms will need to proceed with a scenario of age “re-verification” of all accounts in Greece, so that accounts with declared ages different from the actual age and below the set limits are excluded from using social media.
