The National Strategy for the Protection of Minors from Internet Addiction has the main objective of assisting parents and minors in responsible, judicious use, protecting young people from harmful content and bad or addictive practices, which negatively affect social maturation, the acquisition knowledge and their mental health. It is not intended to prohibit the access of children and adolescents to the internet, nor to deprive them of the information, positive stimuli and opportunities that it offers.

According to the relevant information, the National Strategy will unfold in three interrelated axes: informing parents and children, the development of digital tools that will be available to parents to better manage access to applications and finally the adoption of regulatory measures at the national level, while taking initiatives for addressing gaps that exist in existing European legislation.

This network of actions will work in conjunction with other, complementary initiatives, such as banning mobile phone use by students in schools and implementing SAFE.YOUth.

In any case, the National Strategy is based on the principle that responsible use does not constitute non-use nor does it amount to a prohibition. Particular importance is attached to the role of both parents and guardians as well as children, as dealing with the addiction of minors to the internet is not dealt with only by technical or regulatory interventions, but requires the cooperation of parents and children in order to have a tangible result.

The three axes

On the first axis website included parco.gov.grwhich is active today and will provide easy-to-understand instructions for parents to take advantage of parental control tools that come pre-installed on most devices. An information campaign is also planned in the first half of 2025 on the dangers of excessive internet use, user rights and the tools available to parents.

End, to better raise awareness among children, a “Digital Navigation Day” will be established in schoolswith a variety of activities and different points of emphasis each time.

THE second axis it concerns tools offered to parents, mainly the application Kids Wallet, which will be available for installation in April 2025. This children’s “digital wallet” will be connected to the parent’s Gov.gr Wallet and will be a multidimensional security layer, where various parental controls will be available in a simple way, without complex procedures:

– The app will enable automatic verification of a child’s age from online services, such as social media, by securely pulling information from stored identification documents

– It will give parents the ability to approve the use of applications, but also to consent to their use only for a certain period of time. For example, they will be able to block the connection during sleeping, eating or school hours

Children will not be able to uninstall the app from their device without the consent of a parent or guardian. In addition, Kids Wallet will act as a digital “wallet” where health cards, activity participation information and other documents can be stored in addition to ID information for age verification.

THE third axis concerns the government’s regulatory actions. It contains two key initiatives at the national level, which are expected to be implemented in the third quarter of 2025:

– Establishing the Age of Digital Adulthood at 15 years. This means that parents or guardians will be given the possibility, using the digital tools that the government will activate, to regulate the use of internet services and especially social networks for children under this age. Age verification will be done by the providers and privacy will be ensured through Kids Wallet. Thus, a “declaration” of age that could be false will not suffice

– The obligation of all manufacturers of devices available in Greece and connected to the internet to pre-install or provide access to parental control software, which will allow the regulation of usage time and access to applications

At the same time, it will be done series of actions at European level. Greece will present by March a Children’s Digital Rights Charter, where, among other things, new rights for minors and adult internet users will be recognized and codified. The new rights will primarily aim to tackle practices that allow app providers to develop personalized user profiles, which foster addiction and make it difficult to turn away from the screen.

The set of Greek proposals to the EU will include the pan-European establishment of the Age of Digital Adulthood at 15. The Greek positions will also be supported in the European Parliament.

With its proposals, our country will also seek to address identified gaps in European legislationwhich does have provisions for minor users in the Digital Services Act, but without these covering the part of protection from addictive practices and ensuring a healthy, friendly digital environment. In this context, Greece will prepare proposals for the planned revision of the Digital Services Act and the formulation of the new Digital Justice Act (Digital Fairness Act) by establishing a national task force.

All these actions aim at the same time to start a meaningful dialogue with the providers of the social networking platforms/applications, so that they themselves take safety measures for minors and improve the digital environment to prevent addiction and filter inappropriate content better .