Spain to follow UK with plans to ban social media for children under 16

Pedro Sánchez announced that Spain would implement several changes to laws impacting social media platforms starting next week, with potential criminal liability for executives.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that the country plans to ban access to social media for children under the age of 16 and require platforms to implement age verification systems in a push to impose safety measures on what he called the “digital Wild West.”

Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Tuesday, Sánchez said Spain would require “real barriers that work” for platforms in an attempt to restrict minors’ access. According to the world leader, Spanish authorities planned to hold platform executives criminally liable for infringements related to not removing “illegal or hateful” 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.”

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