Spain plans to ban social media for children under 16

Spain plans to ban access to social media for children under the age of 16, with platforms required to introduce robust age-verification systems, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Tuesday as part of a broader push to create a safer digital environment.

Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Sanchez said his left-wing coalition government was increasingly concerned about young people’s exposure to hate speech, pornographic material, and disinformation online. 

He warned that these risks were harming minors and demanded stronger protections. “Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone,” Sanchez said. “We will no longer accept that.”

Describing the online world as a “digital Wild West,” Sanchez called on other European nations to adopt similar measures, arguing that the challenge of regulating social media extends beyond national borders. 

Spain, he said, has joined five other European countries in what he described as a “Coalition of the Digitally Willing,” aimed at coordinating and enforcing cross-border digital regulation. 

The group is expected to hold its first meeting in the coming days, although Sanchez did not name the participating countries.

The announcement follows Australia’s move in December to become the first country to ban social media access for under-16s, a decision closely watched by governments in Britain, France, and elsewhere.

In addition to age limits, Spain plans to introduce legislation next week to hold social media executives accountable for illegal and hate-based content. 

The proposed bill would also criminalise algorithmic manipulation and the amplification of unlawful material, while requiring platforms to adopt age-verification systems that go beyond simple checkbox declarations.