Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced sweeping plans at the World Government Summit in Dubai to hold social media executives criminally liable and curb platform algorithms, prompting a sharp and profane response from X owner Elon Musk.
Sánchez laid out five measures in a speech, with implementation set to begin next week.
"Dirty Sánchez is a tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain," Musk wrote on X, using an explicit insult and a poop emoji.
Sánchez framed the proposals by describing social media as a lawless digital ecosystem, arguing that platforms have become a "failed state" where disinformation, hate speech and criminal activity flourish without accountability.
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Sánchez also appeared to take aim at Musk directly, criticizing the X owner for amplifying what he described as false claims about Spain’s immigration policy and allowing harmful content to spread on the platform.
"Just last week, the owner of X, a migrant himself, used his personal account to amplify disinformation about the sovereign decision by my government, the regularization of 500,000 migrants that live, work and contribute to the success of our country," Sánchez said.
Under the plan, Spain would first amend its laws to hold platform executives criminally liable for failing to remove illegal or hateful content, exposing executives to potential prosecution.
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Sánchez said governments must stop turning "a blind eye to the toxic content shared under their watch."
Second, Spain would make the algorithmic manipulation and amplification of illegal content a new criminal offense, targeting both disinformation actors and the platforms whose systems promote their content for profit.
"Disinformation doesn’t appear by itself," Sánchez said. "It is created, promoted and spread by certain actors."
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Third, Sánchez announced the creation of a "hate and polarization footprint," a system to track and quantify how platforms fuel division and spread hate, which would serve as the basis for future legal and financial penalties.
"For too long, hate has been treated as invisible and untraceable," Sánchez said. "Spreading hate must come at a cost."
Fourth, Spain will ban access to social media for children under 16, requiring mandatory age-verification systems that Sánchez said must function as real barriers, not simple check boxes.
"Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone," Sánchez said, describing social media as a realm of "addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation [and] violence."
Finally, Sánchez said his government will work with public prosecutors to investigate alleged violations by Grok, TikTok and Instagram, vowing zero tolerance and warning that Spain would defend its digital sovereignty against foreign interference.
"We are fighting back," he said. "And we will continue to do so."
