Time - Spain has proposed a ban on social media for kids under the age of 16, joining a growing number of countries that have moved to protect children and teens from potential online harms. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the ban on Tuesday at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where he criticized tech companies for failing to rein in disinformation as well as illegal content like child sex abuse material and sexualized deepfake images on their platforms.
“Social media has become a failed state, a place where laws are ignored, and crime is endured, where disinformation is worth more than truth, and half of users suffer hate speech,” Sánchez said. “A failed state in which algorithms distort the public conversation and our data and image are defied and sold.”
“Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone,” he added. “We will no longer accept that.”
The ban needs parliamentary approval, which could be discussed next week, Sánchez said. It is among a series of five government measures targeting social media platforms. Sánchez said Spain had joined five other European countries to form the “coalition of the digitally willing” aimed at coordinating cross-border regulation of social media. It is not yet known which other countries are part of the alliance.
A number of other countries across the world have implemented or are considering restrictions on kids’ access to social media. Greece is planning to announce a ban soon, an official source told Reuters on Tuesday, while French lawmakers approved a social media ban last week, sending the bill to the Senate. In December, Australia became the first country in the world to introduce a blanket ban on under-16 access to a slate of social media platforms.
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