By Gavin Boyle
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez revealed that his country would be banning social media access for children under the age of 16 and will require age verification systems on all social media platforms.
“Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone. We will protect them from the digital Wild West,” Sanchez said. “If we want to protect them, there’s only one thing we can do – take back control. I know that it won’t be easy; social-media companies are wealthier and more powerful than many nations – including mine.”
With this policy, Spain becomes the second country to pass a social media age limitation, following Australia which passed a similar law last December.
Related: Australia Might Restrict Kids’ Access to Social Media — Here’s Why
“We stared down everybody who said it couldn’t be done, some of the most powerful and rich companies in the world and their supporters,” Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells told reporters in January. “Now Australian parents can be confident that their kids can have their childhoods back.”
In Australia, 4.7 million child accounts have already been deactivated across a variety of social media platforms.
Meanwhile, multiple other European countries have shared their intentions to pass similar legislation. France, Denmark and Greece all have bills currently under consideration that would ban users under the age of 15 from accessing social media. At the same time, many states across the U.S. are implementing legislation that limits child social media use, such as the ban of cell phones in classrooms.
“The passage of HB 1481 marks an important step toward restoring focus and connection in our classrooms,” said Texas State Representative Caroline Fairly after the state passed a law banning the use of cell phones during school for grades K-12. “By creating a phone-free environment, we’re giving teachers the tools to teach without disruption and students the space to learn, think critically, and engage with one another face-to-face. This bill puts education, not screen time, at the center of the school day. I anticipate not only seeing major jumps in GPA’s and test scores, but improvements in mental health and social wellbeing as well.”
Furthermore, in the summer of 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General called for a Surgeon General’s Warning to be placed on all social media platforms. This call was a response to numerous studies which revealed that social media use by children and young teens had a proven negative impact on their mental health.
As more and more countries work to protect their children and keep them safe from the dangers of social media, maybe these social media platforms will start to make changes that actually protect their young users, rather than continuing to implement technology that causes them to become addicted and greatly harm their mental health.
Read Next: Surgeon General Recommends Warning Labels for Social Media
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