GreeceΝόμος 5172/2025 (Law 5172/2025), Article 12, Prosecutor's Orders to Remove Online Material Inciting Violence or Hatred on the Ground of Gender
Law 5172/2025, Article 12 (Ν. 5172/2025, ΦΕΚ Α’ 10/29.01.2025)
In force since .
A specific illegal content rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Reporting
As of .
What it requires
- If you manage a website or host its content, remove the content that a Greek prosecutor orders removed under Article 12 of Law 5172/2025 within 24 hours of service of the order, and send a declaration of compliance.
- If you provide internet access and are registered in the Register of Providers of Electronic Communications Networks and Services, cut off access to the domain name or IP address named in a prosecutor's order that the National Telecommunications and Postal Commission passes to you, and send the Commission a declaration of compliance stating the time access was cut off within 24 hours of receiving the order.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Competent prosecutor of first instance (εισαγγελέας πρωτοδικών), who issues the removal and blocking orders; the National Telecommunications and Postal Commission (Εθνική Επιτροπή Τηλεπικοινωνιών και Ταχυδρομείων, EETT), which passes blocking orders to internet access providers.
What this law does
Article 12 of Law 5172/2025 carries the heading Measures for the removal of certain online material, and cites Article 23 of Directive (EU) 2024/1385.
Article 12(1) lets the competent prosecutor of first instance order, by a fully and specifically reasoned decision, a website manager or hosting provider to remove content that falls under the Penal Code and Law 927/1979 provisions it lists, where the content involves intentional incitement to violence or hatred against a group of persons, or a member of such a group, defined by gender.
The prosecutor serves the order on the website manager or hosting provider, who must comply within 24 hours and send a declaration of compliance. If the manager or hosting provider is unknown or does not comply, the prosecutor issues a new order for internet access providers to cut off access to the domain name or IP address. The National Telecommunications and Postal Commission passes that order to the internet access providers and asks for its immediate application.
Within 24 hours of receiving the order, the internet access providers send the Commission declarations of compliance stating that the measure was carried out and the time access was cut off. The website manager may appeal to the competent judicial council within one month of service of the prosecutor's order. Under Article 98, the Law applies from its publication in the Government Gazette unless a provision says otherwise.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform.