Spain moves to ban social media for under-16s following France’s push

Spain has proposed plans to ban social media access for teenagers under 16, obliging the platforms to implement age-verification systems.

The Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez announced strict measures on Tuesday to make the digital environment safe for children, protecting them from online abuse and cyber bullying.

The leftist coalition government has repeatedly complained that social media has proliferated hate speech and disinformation, making young people vulnerable to sexually explicit content and harassment. Consequently, the under 16s children face mental health issues.

Sanchez addressed the World Government Summit in Dubai, “Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone... We will no longer accept that.”

"We will protect them from the digital Wild West," he added.

According to Sanchez, Spain is determined to join the other five European countries, calling it “the Coalition of Digitally Willing” that would coordinate and enforce cross-border regulation.

To make the proposal legally binding, Spain will introduce a bill next week. The bill will criminalize algorithmic manipulation and amplification of illegal content and hold social media executives accountable for hate-speech and abusive content.

The platform will also introduce age verification systems. A system to track hate speech will also be introduced.

Last week, French lawmakers also proposed legislation to restrict the access of under 15 years old to social networks and “social networking functionalities” embedded in the platforms. Britain is also eyeing for such social media-based restrictions.

Prior to these countries, Australia became the first country in December to impose social media ban for under 16 children.