Spain will ban access to social media for under-16s as part of a major new crackdown on digital platforms, PM Pedro Sanchez has announced.
The PSOE-leader said tough new measures will include criminal action against companies that fail to remove hateful or illegal content.
Speaking at the plenary session of the World Government Summit in Dubai, Sanchez said his government will approve a new package of measures next week.
The new laws, he said, are aimed at curbing abuses by major networks and making the online environment safer.
For the Spanish leader, social networks must become a ‘healthy space’, particularly for children and teenagers.
As part of the plan, digital platforms operating in Spain will be required to enforce effective age-verification systems to prevent access by minors under 16.
The announcement forms part of a broader legislative and regulatory push to rein in large tech companies.
Sanchez outlined five key guidelines designed to ‘guarantee a safe digital environment’.
These include:
- Ending the legal impunity of platform executives, making them personally accountable for violations committed on their platforms
- Criminalising the manipulation of algorithms and the amplification of illegal content
- Banning social media access for under-16s in Spain, backed by mandatory age verification
- Creating a monitoring and traceability system to establish what the government calls a Hate and Polarisation Footprint
- Working with the public prosecutor’s office to examine potential legal breaches by platforms such as Grok, TikTok and Instagram
Sanchez told delegates that democratic governments can no longer allow digital platforms to operate without meaningful oversight, particularly when it comes to hate speech, disinformation and the protection of minors online.
