Spain will ban social media for kids under 16
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday that the country will ban children under age 16 from accessing social media and will mandate that platforms require age verification.
Australia barred children under age 16 from social media platforms in December and since then leaders across Europe have said they are exploring or are already planning on similar bans.
"We will protect [children] from the digital Wild West," Sanchez reportedly said in remarks at the World Government Summit in Dubai. "Social media has become a failed state, where laws are ignored, and crimes are tolerated.”
The Spanish government also will reportedly introduce legislation next week to regulate social media content.
The move follows several similar initiatives in Europe. On Monday, the new minority government in the Netherlands announced it will push to ban children under age 15 from social media platforms.
Last week French lawmakers greenlit legislation to bar children age 14 and younger from accessing social media. On January 19, the British government announced it is studying a ban for children ages 15 and under.
Suzanne Smalley
is a reporter covering digital privacy, surveillance technologies and cybersecurity policy for The Record. She was previously a cybersecurity reporter at CyberScoop. Earlier in her career Suzanne covered the Boston Police Department for the Boston Globe and two presidential campaign cycles for Newsweek. She lives in Washington with her husband and three children.