Vote in Parliament: Greece decides to ban social media for children

afp | A social media ban for young people under 15 is also being introduced in Greece. The government majority passed the ban, which will apply from January 1, through parliament in Athens on Friday night, as the Greek news ANA reported. The vote was preceded by a heated debate on Thursday.

Only MPs from his conservative New Democracy party voted for the regulation, which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had already announced in April as a “difficult but necessary” step. It is “an effective, necessary solution that complies with EU law,” assured Digital Minister Dimitris Papastergiou.

“It would be very easy to do nothing and wait for a perfect European law,” said the minister, referring to plans discussed in the EU. However, it is necessary to “send a message now that uncontrolled internet use, which leads children to dependency at the expense of their mental health, cannot continue like this.”

The opposition socialist Pasok party abstained. She wanted to ban online networks like Tiktok only for children under 13 years old. For users ages 13 and 14, their proposal included parental controls over social media usage. The radical left-wing Syriza party criticized the blanket ban on younger children. “Protecting children cannot be synonymous with excluding them,” said MP Elena Akrita.

The law that has now been passed provides for age controls for users of online networks. Companies that violate this risk heavy fines.

Last year, Australia became the first country in the world to introduce a social media ban for children and young people. Numerous online networks there are only permitted from the age of 16.

According to a count by the AFP news agency, similar laws have since been passed in more than 20 countries. Austria, Slovenia, Denmark, France and Spain have decided on a similar approach to Greece.

Last month, Federal Minister for Family Affairs Karin Prien (CDU) announced an “immediate program” to better protect children and young people on the Internet by the end of the year. She is also in favor of an age limit for the use of social media offers by young people. The EU Commission, for its part, is proposing to ban social media platforms for children under 13 and limit functions for older teenagers.

According to critics, online networks such as Instagram and YouTube use addictive algorithms to encourage adolescents to become long-term users. Excessive use of functions such as “infinite scrolling” of content can lead to psychological problems. The argument against social media bans for adolescents is that it impairs the right to freedom of expression and networking with like-minded people. There are also doubts about the effectiveness of the bans.