- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has asked prosecutors to investigate the major tech platforms for allowing their AI tools to create and spread child pornography.
- Authorities are sounding the alarm after more than 3 million AI-generated nude images of minors were found circulating online in just two weeks.
- The move comes as Spain pushes a total social media ban for children under 16, a plan that has already seen Elon Musk brand the Prime Minister a “tyrant.”
Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez formally requested the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday to investigate X, Meta, and TikTok.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the Council of Ministers made the decision during an emergency session aimed at curbing the “digital wild west” that currently threatens the safety of Spanish children.
The government believes these platforms are failing to stop, and in some cases, actively facilitating the creation of AI-generated child pornography.
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The statistics behind the crackdown are staggering. Minister of Inclusion Elma Saiz revealed that investigators tracked roughly 3 million AI-generated images of minors in less than a fortnight.
Sánchez has made it clear that “self-regulation” by tech companies has failed, stating that the State can no longer stand by while algorithms amplify toxic and illegal material for profit.
The tension has already spilled over into a public spat with X owner Elon Musk.
After Sánchez announced plans to introduce a mandatory age-verification barrier and ban social media for anyone under 16, Musk took to his platform to label the Prime Minister a “tyrant” and a “traitor.”
Unfazed, the Spanish government is moving forward with legislation that would hold tech CEOs personally and criminally liable for failing to scrub illegal content from their sites.
“Our children are in a space they were never meant to navigate alone,” Sánchez told reporters.
Beyond the criminal probe, the new bill aims to criminalize “algorithmic manipulation”, the practice of using code to promote harmful content.
While Meta and TikTok have previously stated they have safety measures in place, the Spanish government insists those “checkboxes” aren’t working and is now looking to set a legal precedent that could reshape how social media operates across Europe.
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