Spain has announced plans to ban social media access for children under the age of 16, becoming the latest European country to consider such restrictions.
“We will protect them from the digital Wild West,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Tuesday. The proposed ban still requires parliamentary approval. It is part of broader reforms, including holding company executives accountable for “illegal or harmful content” on their platforms.
Australia was the first country to introduce a similar ban last year, with other nations monitoring its implementation. France, Denmark, and Austria are also exploring national age limits, while the UK is consulting on a possible under-16 ban. Social media companies, however, argue that such measures would be difficult to enforce, potentially ineffective, and could isolate vulnerable teenagers. Reddit is challenging Australia’s ban in court.
Sánchez described social media as a space rife with “addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation, and violence,” saying, “Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone. We will no longer accept that. We will protect them.”
Under the new proposals, platforms would need robust age verification systems—“not just checkboxes, but real barriers that work”—to prevent children from bypassing restrictions. The laws would also criminalise manipulating algorithms to amplify illegal content.
Sánchez added, “This is something created, promoted, and disseminated by certain actors whom we will investigate, as well as platforms whose algorithms amplify disinformation for profit. Hiding behind code and claiming technology is neutral is no longer acceptable.”
Additional measures would track how digital platforms fuel division and spread hate. Investigations and prosecutions would target AI tools like Grok (X), TikTok, and Instagram for crimes, including producing sexualised images of real people. The European Commission is investigating Grok, while the UK has launched a separate inquiry. In France, X’s offices were raided by the cyber-crime unit over allegations including unlawful data extraction and child pornography. X has yet to respond publicly.
