Overview
- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the package at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, saying platforms must deploy effective age‑verification barriers rather than self‑declared checkboxes.
- The plan would criminalize manipulation of algorithms and the amplification of illegal content, and introduce tools to quantify and track a digital “footprint of hate and polarization.”
- Executives of social platforms would be held legally responsible for violations on their services, with the government also working with prosecutors to investigate potential offenses involving Grok, TikTok and Instagram.
- The government says it will submit measures next week, but passage is uncertain given its lack of a majority; the center‑right Popular Party signaled it advanced similar ideas, while Vox criticized the proposal.
- Spain’s move follows an international trend that includes Australia’s under‑16 ban now in force—with millions of accounts blocked, including 415,000 by Snapchat—and France’s push for a 15‑year threshold, as Spain joins a small coalition to coordinate tougher rules.