Cyprus to ban social media for children under 15

Children younger than 15 years old will no longer be able to use social media in Cyprus, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Thursday, while hailing the European Union’s new age verification application.

“The protection of our children in the digital environment is one of our government’s top priorities. The Republic of Cyprus is among the EU member states which are moving forward immediately with the implementation of the European technical proposal for age verification in the online space,” he wrote in a post on social media.

He added that within the year, the EU’s age verification system will be fully integrated into the Cypriot government’s ‘Digital Citizen’ application, before saying that his government intends to do more than the baseline requirement on this front.

“At the same time, our government is going one step further, by setting the age of 15 as the minimum threshold for creating and maintaining an account on social networking platforms, with the aim of protecting our children, strengthening families, and ensuring a more effective implementation of the framework by the platforms themselves,” he said.

He added that a bill to this end will be put forward in due course, “regulating the scope of application, the obligation to verify age, the sanctions in cases of non-compliance, and the necessary transitional provisions”.

Attached to his post was a video of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presenting the EU’s age verification application on Wednesday.

In the video, she said that “our European age verification app is ready”, before describing it as “a free and easy to use solution”, and stressing that when using the application, social media users will remain “in full control” of their own data, “because we do not want platforms to scan our passport or face”.

“It is for parents to raise their children and not for platforms,” she added.

Cyprus’ decision to ban social media for children under 15 years old comes hot off the heels of a similar ban announced by the Greek government, with the country’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis having taken to social media last week to announce the ban.

His announcement came in the form of a video, which he began by saying, “six-seven” in reference to a popular meme enjoyed by children.

“Now I have your attention, children, hello. This video will not be ‘top’, or viral, but there is a serious reason that I wish to tell you something from here. I want to speak to you with honesty,” he said.

He said that “in recent years, I have been speaking with many parents, and they all tell me roughly the same thing: that their children are not sleeping well, get anxious easily, and are always on their phones”.

Additionally, he said, he has also spoken with many children, “who say that they are tired from comparisons, comments, and of the pressure to always be there” on social media.

He said that “the science is clear”, that “when a child spends hours in front of a screen, their mind cannot relax, and for this reason, we have decided to proceed with something difficult but necessary”, in banning social media use for children under 15 years old.

The new law in Greece, he said, will be passed this summer, and will enter force on January 1 next year.

“Greece will belong to the list of the first countries which will take such an initiative, and I am sure that it will not be the last. Our aim is also to pressure the European Union in this direction,” he said.

He admitted that “I am sure that many little ones will be angry with me”, and that “if I were your age, I would possibly feel the same way”, but stressed that the Greek government’s role “is not to always be pleasant”.

“However, even if you disagree today, I would like you to think about it a bit and to discuss it with your friends,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, members of parliament on Wednesday night voted down a proposal to adopt a similar proposal, which, if passed, would have banned social media use for children under 16 years old.

The proposal was defeated by 256 votes to 150, with the proposal having been brought forward by the opposition. The British government is now set to proceed with a consultation on the matter, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer set to meet executives from social media platforms in the coming days.

A similar initiative is also underway in Turkey, where members of parliament are expected this week to discuss a ban on social media use for children under the age of 15 years old, with the government minded to require social media users to register their social media accounts with their personal identity cards.

There, Justice Minister Akin Gurlek had said that “everyone will be able to log into social media with their real identity cards within three months”, and that “platforms will close accounts which do not comply with the rules”.

However, news website T24 reported this week that “a clear response has not yet been received from numerous social media platforms” on this matter.