Spain will ban social media platforms for children under the age of 16 and platforms will be required to implement age verification systems, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
“Social media has become a failed state, where laws are ignored, and crimes are tolerated,” he said.
“We will protect them from the digital Wild West.”
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He added that his government would also introduce a new bill next week to hold social media executives accountable for illegal and hateful content.’
Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age law, banning under 16-year-olds from social media, came into effect on 10 December, forcing platforms to take “reasonable steps” to keep them off, or face up to €29 million (Aus$49.5 million).
After a week, tech platforms including Snapchat, Meta, TikTok and Youtube had blocked 4.7 million accounts Australia’s eSafety online regulator reported, delivering “significant outcomes”.
Snapchat, which said it did not believe it should be part of the ban, as its platform is used primarily for communication, on Monday said it had blocked or disabled 415,000 teen accounts in Australia as of the end of January.
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In its announcement, the company critiqued the law, which it says leaves “significant gaps” as the technology to estimate a user’s age is not accurate, with a 2-3 year margin.
“In practice, this means some young people under 16 may be able to bypass protections, potentially leaving them with reduced safeguards, while others over 16 may incorrectly lose access,” the company said.
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Snapchat joined Meta in calling on Australia to require app stores to check users’ ages before allowing downloads as an “additional safeguard”.
France looking to Australia?
As the first country to instate such a ban, Australia is a testing ground for such bans and French regulators are likely looking closely, as a bill that would ban under-15s from social media is making its way through the legislative process.
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The bill was adopted by the National Assembly last week, and the Senate is expected to vote by mid-February, with the government hoping the ban can be applied by the start of the 2026 school year.
The ban would initially only cover new accounts, and platforms would have until the end of the year to block or disable existing accounts that fail to meet the age requirement.
