Spain will move to ban social media for under-16s and force platforms to adopt robust age checks, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced, positioning the country among a growing number of governments tightening rules to protect minors online from pornography, violence and manipulation.
“Spain will ban access to social media for minors under the age of 16. Platforms will be required to implement effective age verification systems, not just checkboxes, but real barriers that work,” Mr Sanchez told a summit in Dubai.
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Framing the change as a child-safety imperative, he added: “Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone. Space of addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation, violence. We will no longer accept that.”
Sanchez also pledged to tighten legal accountability for major platforms, saying he will seek to change Spanish law so that chief executives “face criminal liability for failing to remove illegal or hateful content.”
The announcement underscores a fast-moving policy shift across democracies toward stricter rules on social media access and content moderation. However, the Spanish prime minister faces political headwinds at home: his coalition government lacks a parliamentary majority and often struggles to pass legislation.
Spain’s proposal follows moves elsewhere to curb teenage access and hold platforms to higher standards. Australia established a world first in December when it banned young teenagers from some of the world’s most popular platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. France and Portugal have also sought to follow suit.
At the European level, Spain has joined Denmark, Greece and France in leading a push for similar action across the European Union, signaling momentum for tighter age thresholds and stronger enforcement mechanisms across the bloc.
The debate has intensified in Ireland, where Tánaiste Simon Harris said last week that the country needs to prohibit the use of social media by those aged under 16, calling for a “baring of teeth” and enforcement of the age of digital consent.
Ireland’s Data Protection Act 2018 set the age of digital consent at 16. That means online service providers such as social media platforms, when relying on consent as the legal basis for processing personal data, must obtain permission from a child’s parent or guardian. The requirement has become a touchstone in broader discussions about how to verify ages and ensure companies meaningfully restrict access for younger users.
Spain’s plan folds those questions into a national framework that would require “real barriers” rather than superficial checks to keep minors under 16 off social networks. It also seeks to expand legal risk for executives who do not act against illegal or hateful content, reflecting frustration among policymakers over enforcement gaps.
As with similar measures elsewhere, the impact will rest on the details: how platforms verify ages, how authorities enforce compliance, and whether lawmakers can marshal the votes to enact and sustain the rules. For now, Sanchez’s pledge marks a clear statement of intent that Spain aims to put stronger protections—both technological and legal—between children and harmful content online.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
