Spain to bar under-16s from social media and criminalize CEOs

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced at the World Governments Summit in Dubai that Spain will move to bar children under 16 from accessing social media and to hold platforms and executives legally accountable for illegal and harmful content. The measures include mandatory, effective age verification systems and new criminal offenses aimed at the algorithmic amplification of illegal material.

Sánchez framed the plan as a child-protection initiative, saying, "Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone. We will no longer accept that." He called for governments to "stop turning a blind eye" to the proliferation of child sexual abuse material, nonconsensual sexualized deepfakes and other harmful content. On verification, he demanded systems that are "not just check boxes, but real barriers that work."

Under the announced package, tech companies will be required to implement robust age verification to enforce an under-16 ban. The government also said it will introduce legislation that could expose tech CEOs to criminal liability for hateful or illegal content on their platforms and will criminalize "algorithmic manipulation and amplification of illegal content." Sánchez said Spain has sought cooperation with other European governments to push stricter governance of large platforms.

The announcement places Spain alongside a growing list of countries tightening rules on minors' online access. Recent measures in Australia, France and Denmark establish underage thresholds ranging from 15 to 16 and hold platforms to stricter accountability standards. Sánchez indicated his government would begin the legislative process imminently, with preparations to move forward "as early as next week," though officials did not provide a detailed enforcement timetable or publish draft statutory language at the summit.

Prosecutors in Spain were reported to be exploring avenues to investigate possible legal infractions by platforms including Grok, TikTok and Instagram, a sign the government intends to pair criminal provisions with active enforcement. The proposal has already provoked sharp public pushback from some tech figures; Elon Musk responded by calling Sánchez a "tyrant."

Public health experts and child advocates are likely to see potential gains and risks. Advocates emphasize that reducing young people's exposure to disinformation, sexual exploitation and hate speech could yield mental health and safety benefits. At the same time, policy analysts warn that blunt bans can drive children to encrypted or unregulated corners of the internet, complicate access to health and peer-support resources, and disproportionately affect low-income and marginalized youth who rely on accessible digital services for education and social connection.

Critical legal and policy questions remain unanswered. The government has not released the draft law specifying which services will be covered, how "algorithmic manipulation" will be defined, what standard of culpability would attach to executives, or what privacy safeguards will govern age verification data. Civil liberties and data protection advocates will press for clear limits on identity checks and for mechanisms that do not create new surveillance risks for minors.

Spain's announcement signals a tougher European stance on platform regulation, but the ultimate public health and equity outcomes will depend on the details of implementation, judicial review and international coordination. Observers say the next step is publication of the draft legislation so lawmakers, child welfare experts and privacy authorities can evaluate whether the measures protect young people without producing unintended harms.