Greece moves ahead with age-verification rule for social media users under 15
The Greek government will enforce a new rule that blocks children under 15 from accessing mainstream social-media platforms, using a privacy-preserving age-verification system called Kids Wallet.
Greece is set to implement a restriction that prevents anyone younger than 15 from using mainstream social-media services, a step announced by Minister of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence Dimitris Papastergiou. The enforcement will use the Kids Wallet system, which returns only a binary flag indicating whether a user meets the age limit, thereby avoiding the collection of birth dates or identity documents.
Papastergiou argued that both platforms and parents must share the duty of safeguarding children, especially against addictive digital designs. The national rule is being rolled out ahead of the EU's pending KIDS Act, which envisions limited, supervised access for ages 13-15. To ensure compliance, the government will launch an outreach programme targeting parents, teachers and child-care organisations, and will rely on the Digital Services Act framework to penalise non-compliant platforms, including those based abroad.
Why it matters
The rule aims to shield Greek minors from harmful social-media exposure while setting a model for EU-wide age-verification standards.
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