Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with Google’s Vice President for Privacy and Security, Evan Kotsovinos, the company’s Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Greece, Cyprus, and Malta, Eugenia Bozou, and other senior executives to discuss strengthening cooperation on digital safety.

The talks focused on ways to enhance mechanisms protecting children and teenagers from harmful or inappropriate content online. Discussions also touched on Greece’s national and European initiatives to safeguard minors and address the growing challenge of digital addiction.

Kotsovinos praised Mitsotakis for his leadership in this field. “It’s very important for us. We know that collectively, as a digital society, we must do more — and we are doing more — to protect children,” he said. He emphasized the critical importance of age assurance and verification tools, noting that they are essential for safeguarding minors online.

Greek initiatives

Among the measures highlighted was the development of KidsWallet, the first state-backed application that allows parents to set limits on their children’s use of social media while also providing age verification features.

Greece has also taken a leading role in EU discussions on establishing a common digital age of consent and mandating the integration of parental control tools into all internet-connected devices. These proposals have been widely welcomed by EU member states.

In this context, Greece is one of five countries chosen to pilot the European age verification system, already integrated into KidsWallet. The system is expected to be fully operational by the end of October.