The European Union is following Greece’s digital steps to protect minors from Internet addiction. While tens of thousands of parents are already using the Kids Wallet app to monitor and protect their children from Internet dangers, this summer a European “mini wallet” will be activated. It will confirm the user’s age with the goal of setting 15 as the age of “digital adulthood.”

Already, 13 EU member states have agreed with the proposal initiated by Greece and submitted to the Telecommunications Ministers’ Council in Luxembourg with support from France, Spain, Ireland, and Cyprus. Age verification is one of the three key functions of the Greek Kids Wallet.

Given that digital adulthood will be set at 15, younger minors will only be allowed to access social media with parental consent. Without this, children will be automatically barred from apps like TikTok and Instagram.

At the same time, initiatives are being taken so that, based on digital adulthood — expected to be adopted EU-wide by the end of 2026 — minors will be blocked from accessing a range of websites. An upcoming Health Ministry bill is expected to include a provision cutting off minors’ access to websites selling alcohol, tobacco, and certain pharmaceutical products.

Strong Age Verification System
France, which strongly supported the Greek digital adulthood proposal, is preparing to impose sanctions and fines for selling banned products to minors. President Emmanuel Macron declared that access to social media for those under 15 would be banned immediately. The trigger was the murder of a teacher in Dijon by a 14-year-old student who easily purchased the murder weapon online.

At the recent Ministers’ Summit where the Greek proposal was presented, France emphasized the need for a strong age verification system and called for a ban on social media access for children under 13. According to a study, two out of ten children in France wake up at night to check their social media!

Spain, which also supported the Greek “mini wallet” proposal from the start, stressed that minors should also be barred from accessing pornographic websites. The Greek initiative to protect children online is already supported by 13 countries. The relevant document was co-signed by France, Spain, Denmark, Cyprus, Slovenia, Italy, and supported by Croatia, Slovakia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, and partially by Sweden and the Netherlands.

Papastergiou: We stand by parents
“To combat youth Internet addiction, we must act together at the pan-European level. Only then can we ensure balanced technology use by our children. It is very encouraging that the European Commission responded quickly to our initiative,” says Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou to “THEMA,” adding:

“This summer a European ‘mini wallet’ will launch with age verification capabilities. The goal is for platforms to access the user’s actual age and deliver appropriate content, avoiding addictive mechanisms. Last week, 13 member states agreed at the Telecommunications Council in Luxembourg with the non-paper drafted by Greece, which clearly stated our positions on the need for age verification, child-protective design of digital services, and setting a unified digital adulthood age. Both the non-paper and the Kids Wallet app we implemented encouraged the development of solutions for safer Internet browsing. We remain firm in our belief that we must stand with parents and children to create a protective framework online. There is momentum on this issue, and we will take targeted actions. We owe this to our children.”

Internet Addiction: No social media until age 15 – TikTok and Instagram only with… parental permission
Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou at the Kids Wallet presentation

Digital Adulthood
Beyond agreement on the general principle — the need to protect minors from Internet addiction — there were differing views. Slovakia, for example, believes “digital adulthood” should begin at 16, while Italy notes that Internet access should not be granted to those under 13 — an age at which, in Denmark, 94% of children are already online. In countries like Austria, adulthood already determines access to various digital services.

According to the Greek proposal included in the non-paper submitted to the Ministers’ Council, the following are required:

• Establishing the age of “digital adulthood” for accessing social networks.
• Developing age verification mechanisms.
• Implementing techniques and setting standards so platforms do not operate addictively.

Based on Greece’s experience with Kids Wallet, the launch of the European “mini wallet” was proposed and adopted. Initially, it will confirm user age. Simultaneously, the EU decided to launch a health impact study and take initiatives to protect and empower children against Internet risks through education.

Parental Control
The first pan-European parental control tool for children’s Internet access is the Kids Wallet, already activated by thousands of Greek parents. Practically, parents can use the app to determine which platforms or social media their children may access, and set limits on duration and frequency: how many days per week, how long each session.

At the same time, it serves as an age verification tool. While platforms claim sensitivity to user age, they still accept self-declared ages as valid. However, Kids Wallet provides a verified digital identity for the child, acting as a reliable identification tool.

The app is available on the AppStore, PlayStore, and kidswallet.gov.gr, ready for parents to install on their child’s phone or device. The national strategy addressing youth violence and digital addiction — where these are interlinked — sets digital adulthood at 15.

Once a parent downloads the app on the child’s device, they log in with their TAXIS credentials, pulling family tree data — children as declared. After selecting the relevant child, the parent sets a code and defines content access terms, along with usage time and frequency.

1. The primary function of Kids Wallet is parental control, without violating children’s privacy — the app does not monitor messages but sets terms, conditions, and limits for safe browsing. According to statistics, children and teens lose track of time online due to addictive platform design.
2. The second key function is age verification. Via the app, verification is sourced directly from the citizen registry, preventing minors from falsely claiming adult status.
3. The third feature is the child’s digital identity. No child carries a physical ID, but through Kids Wallet, their ID number can be stored. With a parent’s confirmation code, the child’s ID is embedded, occupying the same role adult IDs hold in the Gov.gr Wallet.

Thus, it can be fully used as a digital ID, for example, in online purchases: For restricted products like tobacco, if the age verified via the app is under 18, the transaction will be blocked.