This Tuesday, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, declared that Spain will implement a ban preventing those under 16 from accessing social media, in addition to adopting actions to reinforce control over digital platforms and ensure that their executives are held responsible for any violations that occur on their networks. Sánchez made this announcement during his speech at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where state and governmental leaders are in attendance. According to Sánchez, it is essential to turn digital platforms into a safe environment. He communicated that next week his government will implement several measures, including the ban on minors under 16 accessing social media. To achieve this, he stated that platforms must establish controls and barriers to prevent young people from accessing them. Sánchez expressed his desire to hold the leaders of these platforms accountable and outlined the actions his government will take. They will be considered legally responsible for violations occurring on the digital platforms they manage. Altering algorithms and promoting illegal content will be considered a crime, and collaboration will take place with the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate possible legal violations by Grok, TikTok, and Instagram. Additionally, Sánchez informed about the implementation of a monitoring and traceability system that would allow for the identification of a trace of hate and polarization. The President has announced that Spain has partnered with five European nations in the ‘Coalition of Digital Willing’ with the aim of advancing the implementation of more stringent regulations on social platforms. The first meeting of this coalition will take place in the coming days. Sánchez pointed out that these actions and collaborative efforts are essential, as social media has transformed into a chaotic environment where crimes are allowed, misinformation holds more value than truth, and half of users experience hate attacks.
