Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced plans to ban social media access for children under 16, positioning the country alongside other nations taking action to protect minors from harmful online content.
Spain Joins Global Movement on Child Online Safety
Sánchez made the announcement Tuesday at the World Government Summit in Dubai, declaring that Spain will require all social media platforms to implement age verification systems to enforce the restriction. “Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone,” Sánchez said, emphasizing the need for “real barriers that work” rather than simple self-reporting mechanisms.
The Spanish government cited concerns over harmful content including pornography, violence, and illegal material on social media platforms. Sánchez criticized tech companies for tolerating child sex abuse material and nonconsensual deepfake imagery, calling social media “a failed state, where laws are ignored, and crimes are tolerated.”
Additional Accountability Measures
Beyond the age ban, Spain plans to introduce legislation to hold social media executives criminally liable for failing to remove illegal or hateful content. The government will also criminalize algorithmic manipulation and the amplification of illegal content, with prosecutors exploring investigations into AI tools and specific platforms.
Part of European Regulatory Wave
Spain joins a growing coalition of nations taking similar action. Australia became the first country to implement such a ban in December, while France approved legislation in January banning social media for children under 15, set to take effect at the start of the school year. Denmark has also introduced similar measures for users under 15.
Sánchez stated that Spain has partnered with five other European nations to form what he called a “coalition of the digitally willing,” coordinating regulation of social media platforms across the European Union. However, Sánchez’s coalition government currently lacks a parliamentary majority, which may complicate passage of the proposed legislation.
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