This European nation is banning social media for children – what the UK can learn ...Middle East

MADRID – Britain could follow the lead of Spain after its government said it would become the first European country to ban social media for children under 16 – despite the threats of Big Tech bosses.

The British grassroots group Smartphone Free Childhood is calling for the government to follow suit by standing up to powerful tech companies and pushing for a similar ban in the UK.

The UK government is actively considering plans to ban access to social media including TikTok and Instagram for those under 16, as calls grow around the world to protect children from its harmful effects.

Spain could criminalise manipulating algorithms

The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said last week that tech companies would not sway the will of his government to protect children from social media.

He said new laws would criminalise manipulating social media algorithms to amplify illegal content, would require effective age verification systems, and would also “investigate and prosecute the crimes committed by Grok [X’s AI tool], TikTok, and Instagram”.

Global momentum for action on the issue has increased after Australia became the first country in the world to prohibit access to platforms also including Facebook, X, Snapchat and YouTube for children under 16 in December. Greece is considering a similar ban for younger children, as are France and Denmark.

However, Spain could become the first country in Europe to implement such laws. Sánchez said last week that he hoped to pass the laws in parliament this week, although this is not assured because his coalition government lacks a majority.

What Britain can learn from Spain

Daisy Greenwell, co-founder and director of Smartphone Free Childhood, said Spain was inspiring other countries to stand up to the social media giants.

“I think [what Spain is doing] gives confidence to other leaders that it is possible and doable,” she told The i Paper. “It has felt for decades now that you cannot regulate it, that they are too powerful and they are too rich and you cannot do anything about it. Australia has started a domino effect.

“World leaders are like everyone else; they look at what other people are doing about it. We are realising we can and we do need to do something about this now. Tech giants are not going to do that.”

She founded Smartphone Free Childhood two years ago after being inspired by the pioneering grassroots Spanish parents’ group Adolescencia Libre de Móviles (Mobile-free Adolescence), which went viral after it was founded in October 2023.

“It made me realise that it was possible to bring parents together on this issue. That parents were ready to rise up and push back against Big Tech overpowering their children’s childhoods,” she said.

Since its founding a few months later, the British group has grown into a network of 450,000 parents, working with the government to represent parents’ views on policy, and supported by celebrities including the actress Kate Winslet.

Greenwell said her movement had a global WhatsApp group, with members from the Spanish group, which inspired their own campaigning.

“We decided to start our first WhatsApp group after watching the Spanish movement take shape a few months earlier. What struck us was not just the scale of parent organising but the sense that real change was possible when parents rose up and spoke with a collective voice,” Greenwell said.

“We’ve been hugely impressed by what Spain has actually done. By moving to restrict under-16s’ access to social media, the Spanish government has shown a willingness to confront powerful tech interests and to intervene when the evidence of harm is clear. We are actively pushing for the UK government to follow suit.”

Last summer, Britain’s Online Safety Act introduced rules that can fine social media companies or jail executives if they fail to bring in measures to protect children from harmful or illegal content.

However, continuing controversies including X owner Elon Musk’s Grok creating sexualised AI deepfakes, including of children, show the limitations of current legislation. Ofcom is investigating X and Musk’s xAI, which created Grok. The platform said it was “working to comply with UK law”.

Last month, the House of Lords backed a move to ban under-16s from social media. The House of Commons is holding a consultation on a potential ban.

Young adults feel they lost some of their childhoods

Amy Ruffell, 43, a television producer and mother of two boys aged five and three, is regional campaigner for the group in her hometown, Cambridge. Shegives talks in schools and tells parents to judge their children’s readiness for accessing social media.

“What occurred to me is that children [who see social media] are acting more mature, but these children are behaving in a more knowing way because they are accessing areas which are intended for adults,” she said.

“I thought, if this is what it is like now, what is it going to be like in 10 years’ time? [A ban on social media] is a much safer option because I meet so many Gen Zs who are getting retro phones because they say they have lost some part of their childhood.”

Lluna Porta, 46, one of the founders of Mobile-free adolescence, has two sons, Gerard, 20, and Max, 15 and lives in Girona, north-east Spain. Her eldest son now has a phone without access to the internet, she said.

Porta said the success of the group had shown that parental action could bring results. “[Our group] applauds the government’s proposal as it is a measure we have been requesting since this citizens’ movement started and which has expanded to more than 40 countries,” she said.

“It is essential that the ban is accompanied by age verification measures and criminal penalties for technology companies that fail to comply.”

Sánchez has shrugged off strongly worded criticism of Spain’s plans from influential tech executives including the Telegram founder Pavel Durov and Musk.

In a post on X, Musk called Sánchez a “tyrant and a traitor to the people of Spain”.

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Durov claimed in a Telegram message that Spain’s proposed legislation would force social media platforms to gather data on all users and allow governments to control what users see.

The Spanish government accused Durov of “spreading lies” and trying to undermine democratic institutions. “Spaniards cannot live in a world where foreign tech oligarchs can flood our phones with propaganda at will simply because the government has announced measures to protect minors and enforce the law,” it said.

Sánchez vowed to press ahead with the ban. “Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone. We will no longer accept that. We will protect them,” he said. “Democracy will obviously not be swayed by the tech oligarchs of the algorithm.”

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