Greece bans social media for teens under 15

[Creyk 18,957]

Greece's parliament approved a bill on Friday that bans the use of social media ‌platforms for children under 15 amid growing concerns over their impact on the health and safety of minors. Greece says it is standing by parents to help curb the "endless ⁠scrolling" that deprives children of sleep, concentration and time with their friends.
The ban comes into force on January ⁠1, 2027
Australia was the first country to pass legislation to curb the use of social media by minors, doing so last year. 

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/greece-passes-social-media-ban-children-under-15-2026-10-23/

[Lucas 32,010]

Imo that's a good thing

[gagzus 27,409]

Considering social media now is just engagement bait, advertisements and adult conversation I think this is a good thing.

[River 129,918]

It's a good thing on paper, but the execution is always bad.

These teenagers are working on ways to access social media as we speak.

I mean, all of us has been teenagers in the past, some still are, and every kind of ban never worked because we always found a way.

The easiest example is tobacco, despite the under 18 ban, teenagers still smokes, because there's always a way to f-ck the rules, to bend them, to find loopholes.. it's sufficient that u know someone who's 18+ or looks 18+, to have access to tobacco 

 

The only thing the country has to do is to throw the ball to the parents, if they want their kids to use social media, they need to consent for this and be their guardians there. all the platform can easily create a kids account option with parental control, and the parents can turn off access to anything they want, only them can accept new friends, have access to DM, or just ban DMs for kids tbh, and so on... Nintendo and Sony already has parental control in their consoles and it's working well.

[Bronco 29,252]

35 minutes ago, River said:

It's a good thing on paper, but the execution is always bad.

100% this. 

Firmly believe we need to let kids be kids, anyone who works with under 18s these days can tell you just how pervasive social media content is within their lives and it literally controls how they feel about themselves.

But so far every effort to do this is just governments using children as a shield to build censorship and control methods for adults.

[nATAH 59,532]

pointless, they'll find a way on there

is having regulations in place to make social media cleaner and safer completely off the table?

no regulations on AI generated content?

[Bambino 24,541]

Do I like this? Yes

Do I think it's applicable? Yes

Do I think it'll work? Absolutely not.

Nowadays 12 year olds with little basic internet knowledge can do wonders.

[JohnPokerface 1,554]

Slayyyter's impact

[gagzus 27,409]

41 minutes ago, nATAH said:

pointless, they'll find a way on there

is having regulations in place to make social media cleaner and safer completely off the table?

no regulations on AI generated content?

I think they should regulate it heavily, and also ban adult content depicting sex acts outright from social media. The downfall (for me) of all the platforms I’ve loved is when they suddenly became overtaken by p*rn. Even LittleMonsters.com fell victim to it at one point.

[Bronco 29,252]

45 minutes ago, nATAH said:

pointless, they'll find a way on there

I had this convo in work

Most of the staff are my age or older and less tech savy and couldnt understand why I didn't support the UK bans

And I was like "because kids understand the workarounds before you've even figured out the basic policy"

Remember like 15 years ago in the UK when every internet provider rolled out adult content controls for parents?

I knew my mum's password 😂 switched it off and she never knew 😅

[nATAH 59,532]

5 minutes ago, gagzus said:

I think they should regulate it heavily, and also ban adult content depicting sex acts outright from social media. The downfall (for me) of all the platforms I’ve loved is when they suddenly became overtaken by p*rn. Even LittleMonsters.com fell victim to it at one point.

i'm the same, i worked hard to make my algorithms pure of heart, luckily IG explore page is just lady gaga and puppies

but still, especially on twitter, i get so much sexual content thrown my way and i'd rather that be kept for when i want to go looking for it instead of dangled in front of me when i'm scrolling between gym sets 

[Bronco 29,252]

2 minutes ago, nATAH said:

dangled in front of me when i'm scrolling between gym sets 

Ngl there's a few gym crushes id be fine with doing this

[nATAH 59,532]

3 minutes ago, Bronco said:

I had this convo in work

Most of the staff are my age or older and less tech savy and couldnt understand why I didn't support the UK bans

And I was like "because kids understand the workarounds before you've even figured out the basic policy"

Remember like 15 years ago in the UK when every internet provider rolled out adult content controls for parents?

I knew my mum's password 😂 switched it off and she never knew 😅

i'm literally one of the few of my friends who knows how to pirate and find sites to watch tv/films online

they're always like "where are you watching _______?" and i'm like girl theft

[robotvoiceinalice 2,155]

yeah i think its just stupid, parents should be the ones making sure their kids are safe. there will be other ways like vpns and stuff so its pointless

[Roughhouse Dandy 14,175]

Good. Do it everywhere. 

Who cares if kids are able to find workarounds? Making access more difficult is better than nothing. Some of y'all sound like anti-gun control people here in America.