Spain becomes second country after Australia and first in Europe to ban social media for under-16s
Spain has become the the second country in the world – and the first in Europe – to officially announced it will ban children under the age of 16 from accessing social media. Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the implementation of the sweeping restriction at the World Government Summit in Dubai. The ban will come into effect next week, marking the end of what Sánchez described as the “digital wild west.”
Spain PM Pedro Sánchez calls social media platforms ‘failed states’
According to a report by CNBC, in a speech, Sánchez compared social media platforms to “failed states” where algorithms distort public conversation and laws are routinely ignored.“Social media has become a failed state, a place where laws are ignored, and crime is endured, where disinformation is worth more than truth, and half of users suffer hate speech. A failed state in which algorithms distort the public conversation and our data and image are defied and sold,” Sanchez said. He also noted that to enforce a ban for under-16s, social media “platforms will be required to implement effective age-verification systems – not just checkboxes, but real barriers that work.”“Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone: a space of addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation, and violence. We will no longer accept that. We will protect them from the digital wild west,” Sanchez added.Sánchez singled out several major websites for specific “systemic failures.” He criticised TikTok for hosting AI-generated child abuse materials, Elon Musk’s X for allowing its Grok chatbot to generate illegal sexual content, and Instagram for allegedly “spying” on millions of Android users.According to Sanchez, five other European countries are joining Spain in enforcing stricter rules on social media platforms.
Australia banned social media for under 16s in December
On December 10 last year, Australia’s ban on social media for teens came into effect. Meta, the owner of Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Threads, said in January that it had removed 550,000 accounts believed to belong to under-16s in Australia across its platforms, and urged the Australian government to reconsider its decision.“We call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward, such as incentivising all of industry to raise the standard in providing safe, privacy-preserving, age-appropriate experiences online, instead of blanket bans,” Meta said last month.
