A mandatory check or even re-check of the age of everyone who maintains a social media account is being led by the Greek government’s implementation of an age ban.

In practice, this means that platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat will have to calibrate the age of their more than 7 million users to determine that they are not minors under 15 who use fake information to maintain accounts. But how could this be done from 1 January 2027, when the measures come into force?

Control

As well-informed sources tell THEMA, these platforms can use their experience from Australia (the first country in the world to implement an age ban on social media).

As most operate using fully automated processes and bots, even to comply with regulations, it seems a one-way street to develop an algorithm that requires ID (or other identification) from each user, cross-checks age against the listed date of birth, and restricts or gives “free” access to the account.

The same sources explain that social media platforms have all the time in front of them to incorporate Kids Wallet verification in a timely manner as part of the sign-up process, rather than simply trusting the self-reported age.

For already registered users, the plan that has been drawn up by the Department of Digital Government for some time now calls for age verification to be requested and re-conducted with a deadline, estimated to be around 90 days.

After those three months have elapsed, if the user has not been able or willing to prove that they are not underage, they will see their social network account locked.

According to existing data, Facebook has and will need to verify between 5.1 and 7.3 million users in Greece, Instagram has 4.35 million, while TikTok says it has 3.87 million “users over 18 years old in Greece.”

Review

For those cases where there continues to be doubt, and for those who refuse to have a scanned identity card available to the social media company managers of the social media companies they use, an additional process is likely to be implemented. The user will have to make a video call with social network representatives who will verify prima facie that the user is not a minor.

This “solution” has been implemented extensively in Australia and failed miserably, as it was a popular solution for minors who wanted to maintain their access to social.

The Ministry of Digital Governance has made it clear that when the law is implemented, and therefore after January 2027, platforms will need to go through an “age re-verification” scenario for all accounts in Greece. This means that there is a possibility that platforms will re-verify and re-request the data of even users who provided official identification and age verification data. Or, on the other hand, run “scripts”.

One scenario wants platforms to use Artificial Intelligence “gatekeepers”, who would scan 24/7 for reactions on social networks and look for patterns of behaviour that point to minors.

Specific preferences in songs, artists, word or phrase usage (example “6-7” used by the Prime Minister, addressing young people, when he announced the government’s initiative), and other behaviours that refer to minors will “red flag” accounts as fake ID and restrict them until the age re-verification is done.

Even in the scenario where a parent provides their account to a minor child to surf social media, they would have to repeat the identification process via video call.

Registration process

The above, which the platforms don’t exactly like, will be the last line of protection for minors from the dangers lurking on social networks. The first line of defence, as Thema has revealed, will be the Kids Wallet, which is a ready-made and field-tested government application developed by the Ministry of Digital Governance.

Kids Wallet can be used as a national age verification mechanism for social media platforms, ensuring that only age-verified users can create accounts. Social media should incorporate Kids Wallet verification as part of the registration process, rather than simply trusting self-reported age. For already registered users, age verification will be re-requested with a deadline of, say, 90 days, after which their account will be locked.

However, to those who point to the Australian experience, and the fact that minors today have a relationship with social networks that makes them look like… super hackers in the eyes of their elders, Digital Government Ministry officials explain that the tracking of accounts will not be based solely on IP address, as this could be circumvented through the use of VPNs.

Rather, multi-factor checking will be applied, including a combination of:

1. Connection from an IP within the Greek territory.
2. Declared place of residence in Greece.
3. Select Greek as the primary language of the account or device.
4. Create an account through a Greek telecommunications provider.
5. Systematic posting of content in Greek.
6. Using a Greek mobile number for verification.
7. Genotyping device data (where consent is provided).

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With the implementation of the aforementioned “additional safeguards”, the setting will not be limited to IP verification, but will be based on a combined assessment of user elements. This renders the simple use of VPNs as a means of bypassing the system essentially ineffective.

The regulation that the Greek government has been working on for a long time, if implemented in Greece (as our country is leading a “coalition of the willing” on this issue, involving France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and of course Cyprus), would apply to all adults under the age of 15 residing in Greek territory, regardless of nationality. For these – soon to be – users will be banned from creating and maintaining a personal account on social media platforms.

They will be prohibited from accessing personalized content, algorithmic feeds, and private messaging on the specific platforms covered by the measure (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat). Parental consent will not be allowed as an exception, and the ban will be universal.

Immediately after the implementation of the age ban, by banning access to social networks for children under 15 years old, a new set of measures follows. As revealed by “THEMA” today, these are measures that will apply to minors over the age of 15 and under the age of 18, to protect them from all the risks arising from the use of social network platforms.

The measures will reportedly be entirely focused on protecting minors’ personal data from the… unstoppable appetite of social media platforms, protecting them from pedophiles and other “predators” targeting minors, and protecting the health and well-being of young people.

How will this be done? And in this case, the key weapon will be the Kids Wallet, through which mandatory age verification will be done to create an account thereafter or to maintain it if it is a minor over 15.

Teen Account Settings

Once the age is verified, the settings called “Teen Account Settings” will be activated in Kids Wallet. Essentially, for advertising algorithms, the accounts of Greek minors will be in “shadow mode” and thus non-existent.

The automatic activation of the increased protection settings of Teen Account Settings, in addition to disabling personalized advertising, will limit interactions with unknown and particularly unverified or adult accounts, effectively blocking private messages from strangers.

Among the measures that will come into place for underage social media users is a restriction on nighttime use. According to information available to THEMA, Kids Wallet will limit (leaving small windows of operation) or block the use of social media from midnight to morning.

To date, the preferred option is to restrict their use from 12 midnight to 6 am to protect minors from the addiction of doom scrolling, which causes – among other things – sleep deprivation, with dramatic consequences for their physical, brain, and mental health.