Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a significant policy change aimed at prohibiting social media access for children under 16. This initiative is part of a broader strategy intended to enforce stricter regulations on social media platforms, mandating their implementation of age verification systems to enhance online safety for minors.

Sánchez expressed these details during the World Governments Summit held in Dubai, where he emphasized the pressing need for ‘real barriers that work’ to protect youth from the dangers he described as prevalent in today’s social media landscape. These include issues such as addiction, abuse, and exposure to harmful content.

“Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone,” said Sánchez. “Space of addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation, violence. We will no longer accept that. We will protect them from the digital Wild West.”

Pedro Sánchez Illustration of Pedro Sánchez

According to Sánchez, these laws are set to start next week and are intended to combat misinformation and the manipulation associated with certain platforms, which include investigations into social media services like Elon Musk’s Grok, Instagram, and TikTok. This announcement follows similar considerations by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the same matter and coincides with Australia’s recent requirement for platforms to restrict account access to minors.

As an EU member, Spain is also aligning its legal framework with the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation introduced in 2023, which extends compliance requirements for crypto platforms operating within its jurisdiction.