File photo. [Annie Flanagan/The New York Times]
The center-right government will table legislation “within weeks” to ban social media access in Greece to children aged under 15, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insisted Tuesday, saying the platforms pose a threat to young people’s mental health.
Fellow European Union members France and Portugal have already imposed a similar ban, while Spain is planning action of its own to restrict young people from using social media. Outside the EU, Australia was the first country to ban under-16s from social media platforms, while Britain’s government is also planning to introduce restrictions.
Mitsotakis said the evidence is “unambiguous” that children and young teenagers’ “addictive scrolling is damaging to their mental health.”
“We need to do something about it,” he added.
The prospect of bans has angered US officials and America’s powerful major technology firms that control social media. But Mitsotakis, who has been referring to the prospect of a Greek ban for some time, voiced confidence Tuesday in the strength of the moral argument against children using social media.
“We need to honestly confront the platforms and tell them something very simple: You’re making enough money,” the prime minister said. “You don’t also need to make money out of our children and our teenagers.”