Spain will ban access to social media for children under 16 and platforms will be required to implement age verification systems, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday, February 3rd at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
Sánchez’s left-wing coalition government has repeatedly complained about the proliferation of hate speech, pornographic content and disinformation on social media, saying it has negative effects on young people.
Sánchez called upon other European countries to implement similar measures:
Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone… We will no longer accept that.
Australia in December became the first country to ban social media for children under 16, a move being closely watched by other countries considering similar age-based measures, such as Belgium, France, Greece, and Poland.
Sánchez said his government would also introduce a new bill next week to hold social media executives accountable for illegal content and hate speech, as well as to criminalize algorithmic manipulation and the amplification of illegal content.
