Spain to restrict social media for users under 16: PM Sánchez

Spain is the latest EU nation to pursue a law restricting social media sites for users under 16 years of age, with Greece reportedly planning to follow suit with an age threshold of 15. The news sees global efforts to legislate age assurance for social platforms gain momentum in the wake of Australia’s trailblazing law, enacted late last year.

Reporting from Reuters and Politico says Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced his intention at the World Governments Summit in Dubai. A bill is expected to be approved by the country’s Council of Ministers next week, amending a draft currently under debate in Spanish parliament.

“Platforms will be required to implement effective age verification systems – not just check boxes, but real barriers that work,” Sánchez says. He says the law will “hold social media executives accountable for illegal and hate-speech content,” and “criminalize algorithmic manipulation and the amplification of illegal content.”

“Spreading hate must come at a cost – a legal cost, as well as an economic and ethical cost – that platforms can no longer afford to ignore.”

The personal liability for social media executives is a sharp barb, but it could end up causing further snags with the U.S. administration, which has thrown its weight behind U.S. tech companies pushing back against global regulations.

Internet as it exists wasn’t built with kids in mind

According to Reuters, 82 percent of Spaniards support banning social media for children under 14. Across the bloc, the specifics of standardized age thresholds are still to be worked out; there has been legislative murmuring about an EU-wide digital age of majority, but for now various nations are setting different limits. Greece’s legislation, which government officials say is coming soon, would put the threshold for social media users at 15.

Nonetheless, Spain joins a growing list of nations that are following Australia’s lead and pursuing related enforcement. Denmark has announced plans to restrict users under 15. The French government is fast tracking a similar law. Portugal’s government has tabled draft legislation that would block users under 16 unless they have parental consent.

Taken together, it marks a larger social shift in how the internet is perceived and managed as a fully integrated element of our lives. Sánchez gets to the heart of it in stating his belief that “our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone.” That sentiment is increasingly shared by parents and regulators.

French authorities raid X office; UK ICO launches probe

There is ample reason. As social platform X continues to function as a deepfake porn and CSAM engine via its large language model (LLM), Grok, it is driving more punitive and legislative activity. Today, the Paris prosecutor’s cyber-crime unit staged a raid on the offices of X, and The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) opened a formal investigation into the company, “following reports that Grok has been used to generate non-consensual sexual imagery of individuals, including children.” (more on this here)

Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, social media platforms are required to moderate illegal content, which includes child porn.

Article Topics

age verification  |  children  |  deepfakes  |  EU age verification  |  Greece  |  social media  |  Spain