Hundreds of thousands of teenagers could be banned from using social media in Spain as part of a new major crackdown. The Spanish government is planning to overhaul safeguarding for young people in a bid to protect children from the dangers of online content. Spain is now planning on raising the age for social media use to 16. The EU country will enforce these safeguarding measures by introducing an electronic age verification system.

Users will be required to verify their identity and age in order to access content deemed sensitive online. The Spanish government predicts that up to 700,000 teenagers could be impacted by the new law, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reports, which has sparked controversy among Spain’s younger social media users.

Specialist officers currently visit schools in Spain to give talks to teenagers about safety online.

The Spanish government will also be calling for parental control systems on all smartphones sold in Spain, allowing for blocks on porn, gambling, or violent content, as well as time constraints.

This comes after Australia enacted groundbreaking legislation, the first globally, which bars children under 16 from accessing major social media platforms. The law came into force on December 10, placing responsibility on social media firms to enforce compliance rather than on children or their guardians.

The prohibition covers ten significant platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Kick (a streaming service), and Twitch (another streaming service). Several other widely-used platforms remain exempt for now, including WhatsApp, Messenger, YouTube Kids, Google Classroom, Roblox, and LinkedIn.

In the UK, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy said that Labour is “keeping a very close eye on the way this is playing out in Australia”. 

The MP said “young people are really struggling with the amount of time that they spend online and what is happening to them online”.

She told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge: “We are not planning to introduce this… But it doesn’t mean that we’ve closed our minds to further action.”

The minister insists the government is not taking a lax approach to this issue, revealing that £500 million is being channelled into the youth strategy. Labour is focusing their efforts on the Online Safety Act (OSA) 2023.