Spain to seek ban on social media for under-16s

(Patria) - Spain will seek to ban social media for under-16s to protect them from harmful content such as pornography and violence, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday, sparking an angry response from X owner Elon Musk, AFP reports.

"Platforms will have to implement effective age verification systems – not just self-declarations, but real barriers that work," Sánchez told a summit in Dubai.

"Today our children are exposed to a space in which they should never have navigated alone: a space of addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation, violence. We will no longer tolerate this."

He also promised to change Spanish law so that the main executives of technology platforms "face criminal responsibility for not removing illegal or hate-filled content."

Musk, in a post on the X social network, called the prime minister "Dirty Sanchez," who is "a tyrant and a traitor to the people of Spain," adding a poop emoji.

In another post, Musk called Sánchez a "true fascist totalitarian."

This is part of posts in which he criticized the French authorities who carried out police raids on X's Paris offices for alleged political interference and sexual deepfakes.

Sánchez launched a ban on social media for under-16s in November, but on Tuesday elaborated on his idea in a package of five measures to be approved "starting next week."

However, his coalition government does not have a parliamentary majority and often struggles to pass laws.

Australia became the first government in the world in December when it banned young teenagers from accessing some of the world's most popular platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

France and Portugal have also tried to follow suit. Spain has joined Denmark, Greece, and France in leading an initiative for similar actions across the European Union.