Spain Looks to Ban Social Media for Under-16s, Joining Others in Europe

MADRID, Feb. 3, 2026 (AP) — Spain plans to ban social media access for children under 16, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Tuesday, in a move designed to shield young people from the harms of online content.

Sánchez chided the world's biggest tech companies in a speech at a Dubai summit, saying they allow illegal content such as child sex abuse and nonconsensual sexualized deepfake images to proliferate on their platforms. He said that governments also needed to “stop turning a blind eye.”

“Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone," Sánchez said. “We will no longer accept that.”

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