In brief: Countries around the world are banning young people from social media. Following similar moves by Australia and France, Spain plans to ban under-16s from platforms such as Facebook and X, and hold those companies accountable for illegal user-generated content. X's owner, Elon Musk, responded by calling the Spanish prime minister a "tyrant."

Spain's under-16 ban, which still requires parliamentary approval, is part of a series of measures announced by prime minister Pedro Sánchez.

Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Tuesday, Sánchez said the measures will protect children from the "digital wild west" and hold tech companies responsible for illegal and harmful content on their platforms.

Sánchez said the ban was required as social media was a "failed state where laws are ignored and crimes are tolerated."

The changes will require social media platforms to implement effective age verification systems, "not just check boxes, but real barriers that work." The prime minister is likely referring to Australia's ban, which has seen teens circumvent the restrictions by making unusual facial expressions, applying makeup, using VPNs, or simply uploading a photo of an adult.

Sánchez said another measure would be to "investigate and prosecute the crimes committed by Grok, TikTok, and Instagram."

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The Spanish PM singled out Elon Musk, accusing the billionaire of using X to "amplify disinformation" over the administration's plans to regularize 500,000 undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. Sánchez pointed out that Musk himself was a migrant.

Musk responded with an X post that read: "Dirty Sánchez is a tyrant and a traitor to the people of Spain." He added in a later post that "Sánchez is the true fascist totalitarian."

About 82% of people in Spain said they believed children under 14 should be banned from social media, according to an Ipsos poll – an increase over the 73% that said the same in 2024.

Following Australia's ban on under-16s from opening and operating social media accounts in December – the first democratic country to impose such restrictions – France approved a bill to ban under-15s from the platforms last month.

With Spain set to bring in its own restrictions, it appears that Greece will soon follow suit. A senior government official told Reuters that the country is "very close" to announcing a social media ban on children under 15.

Germany, Italy, and Britain are also considering introducing restrictions on children's social media use.