Elon Musk calls Spanish PM a ‘tyrant’ over plan to ban under-16s from social media and curb hateful content | Social media
Spain has proposed banning young people from using social media as attitudes towards technology have hardened in Europe and Elon Musk has been subjected to personal insults towards the prime minister.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the government was preparing a series of measures, including a social media ban for those under 16, and vowed to protect children from the “digital wild west” and hold tech companies accountable for hateful and harmful content.
Sánchez said on Tuesday that urgent action was needed because social media was “a failed situation where laws are ignored and crimes are tolerated.”
He also faulted Musk for using the X to “amplify disinformation” over his administration’s decision last week to regularize 500,000 undocumented workers and refugees, pointing out that Musk himself is an immigrant.
In response, Musk wrote about X: “Dirty Sánchez is a tyrant and a traitor who betrayed the people of Spain.” About an hour and a half later, he stepped up his criticism, writing to X: “Sánchez is the real fascist totalitarian.”
Representatives for Google, TikTok, Snapchat and Meta, which is part of Alphabet, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Spain’s proposed measures.
A senior government source said Greece was close to announcing a similar ban on children under 15.
Spain and Greece appear poised to join countries such as the UK and France in considering tougher attitudes towards social media after Australia in December became the first country to ban children under 16 from accessing such platforms.
Governments and regulators around the world are investigating the impact of children’s screen time on their development and mental health.
“Our children are being exposed to a space where they should never have to navigate alone… We will not accept this anymore,” Sanchez told the World Government Summit in Dubai. “We will protect them from the digital wild west.”
Sanchez said Spain had joined five other European countries in what he called a “coalition of digital bidders” to coordinate and implement the cross-border regulation, and that they planned to hold their first meeting in the coming days, without naming the countries.
“We know this is a fight that goes beyond the borders of any country,” he said. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
The law banning children under 15 from using social media is being passed by the French parliament. The UK is also considering similar measures.
Diana Diaz, director of the ANAR Foundation for at-risk children and adolescents, said Spain’s proposed regulation would give parents clear support for setting limits and ease social pressure on children who are worried about missing opportunities.
The recent explosion of AI-generated content and public outcry over reports that Musk’s Grok AI chatbot produced non-consensual sexual images involving minors has fueled debate over the risks of such online content.
But Jose Cesar Perales, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Granada, said there was no unanimous agreement that social media was harming teenagers.
Sanchez said prosecutors will look into ways to investigate possible legal violations by TikTok and Instagram, which are part of Meta, as well as Grok.
A government spokesman said the proposed ban would be implemented as part of an amendment to the existing bill on the digital protection of minors, which is being debated in parliament.
According to a survey on education published by Ipsos in August last year, approximately 82 percent of people in Spain said they believed that children under the age of 14 should be banned from using social media. This rate was 73% in 2024.
via Reuters
