Kyriakos Mitsotakis left the news on social media at the end, in a discussion with Yannis Theocharis and Yannis Pretenderis, as part of the “Athens Alitheia Forum” conference.

The Prime Minister announced that decisions will be announced very soon to restrict access to certain platforms for children under the age of 15.

“We have made an effort to bring order to a chaotic landscape such as that of media. A great and good effort is being made in the media in the District. Beyond that, the government will very soon announce its final decisions on restricting access to certain social media platforms to children below 15 years of age. We want to be absolutely sure that what we will announce will be enforceable and will not trip over the European regulatory framework, specifically the Digital Services Directive, so stand by your earpiece. I believe that soon, within the month, there will be announcements on this issue,” he said.

The Prime Minister took part in the debate alongside Professor of Digital Governance and holder of the eponymous chair at the Technical University of Munich, and editor of the newspaper “To Vima”, on the topic of the discussion “Choosing reality: The Threat of Misinformation.”

“Fake news has always existed, what has changed is its rapid reproduction,” the prime minister said initially, noting that it also causes addiction, especially among young people.

“We need independent media to control the information. There is false news, not false opinion. But news when it takes on a different character, it becomes fake news. News that conveys anger is reproduced at speed and combined with AI creates an explosive ‘cocktail’ in society,” he added.

“We (public figures) are at a disadvantage because now they can so convincingly create fake videos with words we haven’t said. This in the run-up to elections is crucial. Not only in Greece, it is a global problem,” he said.

As for how this can be combated, he said: “A medium is accountable to what it says and does, even if someone writes under a pseudonym. On the internet this is impossible. My daughter was recently targeted. It is impossible to take legal action. So how do you protect yourself? The second thing we need to see is that AI is used in a way where you know whether you are looking at something genuine or a product of artificial intelligence. And the third is educating the younger generation who are more familiar with these tools. It’s our generation that I fear the most. I’ve seen my own videos of me speaking Chinese and moving my lips in flawless Chinese. These are the first thoughts on how to deal with this phenomenon.”

Mitsotakis: The issue of anonymity on the internet must be addressed

The issue of anonymity needs to be addressed in the context of the internet.
“The issue of anonymity… A distinction – which is not easy – must be made between a person speaking under his name and someone speaking under a pseudonym. If you want to argue legally, you can’t. It’s not easy to find an obvious legal answer to that,” the Prime Minister further noted.

“In the US, platforms have no obligation to control what goes in. They have no say in what is posted on them. But they understand that they have to intervene in matters of, say, child pornography, or racial hatred. They cut anything that crossed an unacceptable line. This has now been cut and the toxicity has exploded. By exploiting our attention, on the platforms, through toxic behaviour, they are making money,” he added.

“We need to identify organised disinformation attacks, especially if they come from abroad. We saw them with the Tempi case with fake accounts from abroad. The accident was exploited by armies of accounts from abroad. This cannot be accepted by a government. Users were appearing who do not exist. They were throwing kerosene on the fire with what they posted. We cannot be left unconcerned about this. Especially when we see it in elections abroad. It is a matter of self-protection as we have many elections in 2027 in states. The government has been very tolerant of criticism. I though monsters have been said about me and my family, I have not filed a single lawsuit, my family will do so when the glass is overflowing. We are fighting misinformation that may have a political purpose or just the scams.”

Speaking about what had been written about the timber for the Tempe, in an intervention by G. Pretenderis, the prime minister commented:

“Who gave a platform to unlikely experts who designed wagons with theories of concrete? It was the traditional media. The absurd and fake became an acquired taste of society.”