Spain to join growing list of countries banning access to social media for children, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez Tuesday. The law applies to users under 16 years of age amid a broader push to hold social media companies accountable for hate speech, social sharing and illegal content.

at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Prime Minister Sanchez warned social media, calling it a “failed state” where “laws are ignored and crime is tolerated.” He spoke of the importance of digital governance for these platforms, highlighting recent incidents such as X’s AI chatbot Grok sexual images of children, and the many that happened on Facebook.

In light of what Sanchez called the “integral” role of social media in the lives of young users, he said the best way to help them is to “take back control.” Next week, his government will introduce several new regulations, with a ban on users under 16 years old among them. Social media companies should implement what he called “effective age verification systems” and “not just checkboxes.” A specific timeline for implementing the upcoming ban has not been announced.

Spain will also make “algorithmic manipulation and amplification of illegal content” a new criminal offense and Sanchez says tech CEOs will face criminal liability for hateful or illegal content on their platforms. The Prime Minister further announced that Spain has formed a coalition with five other unnamed European countries to make stricter management of social media platforms.

Sanchez said the children are “exposed to a space they’re never meant to navigate alone,” and that it’s the government’s job to intervene. He added that social media has fallen short of its promise to be a “tool for global understanding and cooperation.”

implemented an under-16s ban on social media last year, prompting many countries to follow suit. It’s below in the UK, while and announced plans to enact similar restrictions.