{"id":771752,"date":"2026-02-18T03:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/771752\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T03:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:45:11","slug":"spain-launches-probe-into-social-media-giants-as-european-regulation-starts-to-boil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/771752\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain launches probe into social media giants as European regulation starts to boil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spanish authorities will investigate the social media companies Meta Platforms Inc., X Corp. and TikTok to determine if they\u2019ve spread child sexual abuse material generated by artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

The investigation follows a broader push by European countries to regulate what has often been called the \u201cWild West<\/a>\u201d of social media platforms. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u00a0wrote<\/a> on X today that the \u201cplatforms are undermining the mental health, dignity, and rights of our children.\u201d He added, \u201cThe state cannot allow this. The impunity of these giants must end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The probe comes after a report that detailed potential criminal wrongdoing regarding the \u201cgeneration and dissemination of sexual content and child sexual abuse through deepfakes and the manipulation of real images to create others with explicit sexual content.\u201d It concluded that social media firms allow such content to flourish.<\/p>\n

Like the U.K.,<\/a> following in the footsteps of Australia<\/a>, Spain has already proposed banning social media for children under 16. Earlier this month Prime Minister S\u00e1nchez vowed to protect Spanish children from the \u201cdigital wild west\u201d and hold the tech giants who own the technology to account. He likened social media to a \u201cfailed state where laws are ignored and crimes are tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n

He particularly took aim X owner Elon Musk after Musk criticized Spain\u2019s plan<\/a> to regularize about 500,000 undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, calling S\u00e1nchez a \u201ctyrant\u201d and \u201ctrue fascist totalitarian.\u201d<\/p>\n

X is already being investigated<\/a> by the European Commission over allegations that the Grok chatbot earlier this year produced sexually explicit images possibly containing child sexual abuse material. X\u2019s offices in Paris were raided<\/a> for similar reasons, with Musk calling the raid a \u201cpolitical attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, Ireland\u2019s Data Protection Commission also opened a probe<\/a> into Grok\u2019s treatment of personal data and its potential to generate harmful sexualized images and video.<\/p>\n

The clash is part of a wider fight between European regulators and the U.S. French President Emmanuel Macron has called regulation a \u201cgeopolitical battle\u201d against U.S. big tech. Spain\u2019s Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy recently said Spain had to \u201cbreak free\u201d of its digital dependence on the U.S., adding that social media platforms were trying to \u201cdestabilize European democracies from within.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greece\u2019s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was similarly outspoken. Recently, he said he had read Jonathan Haidt\u2019s \u201cThe Anxious Generation,\u201d a book that argues smartphones and social media have rewired children\u2019s brains. Mitsotakis called it an \u201can eye\u2011opening experience,\u201d stating that social media amounted to the \u201cbiggest unchecked experiment with our children\u2019s brains ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

In what has become a war of words as well as regulations, the Trump administration has warned<\/a> that the U.S. must join in \u201cresistance to Europe\u2019s current trajectory.\u201d His contention is that Europe could be facing \u201ccivilizational erasure,\u201d including the loss of free speech.<\/p>\n

Photo: Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n

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