Main points
- Spain plans to ban access to social media for children under 16 and is preparing a law on the liability of platform managers for hate speech and illegal content.
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called on other European countries to support social media restrictions for children amid growing concerns about the influence of these platforms.
The Spanish government is strengthening control over social networks and algorithms / Collage 24 Channel
Spain is set to dramatically tighten rules on social media. The government is considering banning children under 16 from the platforms and is preparing a law that would make company executives personally liable for hate speech and illegal content. The move comes amid a wider European debate about the impact of social media and algorithms on society.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his government plans to ban the use of social media by children under 16. At the same time, the authorities are preparing a law that would allow platform managers to be held personally liable for hate speech and the distribution of illegal content. Reuters reports.
Why did Spain decide to tighten control over social media?
According to Sanchez, children are in a digital environment that they cannot handle on their own. He stressed that the state is no longer willing to tolerate this situation, and promised to protect minors from what he called the ” digital wild west .” Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, the prime minister also called on other European countries to support similar restrictions.
Spain has joined a growing number of countries reviewing their social media policies, according to the WSJ . After Australia in December became the first country in the world to completely ban access to platforms for children under 16, tougher measures have been discussed in the UK and France . Governments and regulators are also increasingly paying attention to the impact of screen time on children's mental health and development.
Sanchez said that Spain, together with five other European countries, has created the so-called ” Coalition of the Digitally Ready .” Its goal is to coordinate actions and implement cross-border regulation of social platforms. The coalition plans to hold its first meeting in the coming days, but the composition of the group has not been officially disclosed.
The prime minister stressed that the problem goes far beyond national borders. He has previously publicly criticized social media owners, calling them a ” technocaste ” and accusing algorithms of harming society. At the EU level, the Digital Services Act has been fully in force since the beginning of 2024, obliging platforms to more actively moderate content, although critics point to the risks of excessive control and censorship.
The debate has been further fueled by the rapid spread of AI content. In particular, reports of the Grok chatbot , which allegedly created sexualized images without the consent of people, including minors, caused a stir. Against this background, Pepa Milian, a representative of the far-right Vox party, said that the proposed measures could be used to suppress criticism of the authorities and control public space.
Sanchez, for his part, announced that the government will introduce a bill next week that will make social media managers liable for illegal and toxic content. Other initiatives include criminalizing algorithmic manipulation, requiring platforms to implement real age verification mechanisms, and creating systems to track online hate speech. The prosecutor's office will also look into possible violations by Grok, TikTok, and Instagram .
The ban for children is planned to be implemented through amendments to the current bill on the digital protection of minors, which is currently being discussed in parliament. The government has not yet disclosed details. At the same time, an Ipsos poll shows that 82% of Spaniards support restricting access to social networks for children under 14 – compared to 73% a year earlier .
Similar measures are already having a tangible effect abroad . In Australia, social networks deactivated almost 5 million teenage accounts in the first weeks after the ban was introduced, indicating the scale of the potential changes for the European market as well.