Spain’s Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez is proposing a ban on under-16s using social media, following the example set by Australia last year. Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai earlier this week, Sánchez said: ‘Today our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone… We will protect [them] from the digital Wild West.’

The Spanish premier’s announcement comes at a time when several other European nations are also attempting to combat the harmful effects of social media on children. France’s ban on under-15s using social media is expected to become law later this year, while Greece, Portugal and Denmark have signalled their intention to enact similar legislation.  

Sánchez’s ban is part of a legislative package that includes a proposal to hold social media executives personally responsible for illegal content on their sites, and new measures to track disinformation, hate speech and child pornography. The Spanish premier has also signalled his willingness to work with the public prosecutor to investigate TikTok, Instagram and Elon Musk’s AI Chatbot Grok for alleged illegal content.

Musk, whose social media platform X was fined........

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