Spanish prime minister says state must protect children from 'toxic' social media

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Thursday that the power of the state exists to protect democracies "from the attacks they suffer" and to safeguard children and adolescents from the "toxic, unpunished world" that social media has become.

Speaking at the closing session of the 8th National Industry Congress in Bilbao, Sanchez defended the government's plans to tighten regulation of digital platforms, particularly to protect minors.

"The power of the state is there to protect democracies from the attacks they suffer and also children and adolescents from that toxic, unpunished world that social media has unfortunately become," he said, La Voz de Asturias reported.

His remarks came amid a public clash with major technology figures over Spain's proposal to restrict access to social media for children under the age of 16.

Sanchez indirectly responded to criticism from Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov, who on Wednesday warned users that Spain's planned regulations threatened "internet freedoms" and risked turning the country into a "surveillance state."

The Spanish leader also faced attacks from X owner and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who earlier this week labeled Sanchez a "totalitarian fascist" and a "tyrant."

Sanchez rejected claims that regulation amounts to censorship or authoritarianism, arguing that the debate should focus on the purpose of technological innovation.

"Some say that regulation is control, that doing politics is tyranny, that setting rules limits innovation. But the key questions are almost never asked. What do we want this innovation for? To expand rights or to put those rights at risk? To strengthen democracy or to erode it? To improve people's lives or for a few to line their pockets?" he said.

Sanchez criticized what he described as the unchecked power of technology elites, accusing them of spreading misinformation and exploiting personal data.

"Do we want a technology that normalizes and amplifies deception, that turns privacy into a commodity, a society in which a tech oligarch can infiltrate, as they did this Wednesday, the mobile phones of millions of citizens to tell them lies?"

The answer, Sanchez said, "has to be a clear no."

"They won't break us, because the voice of reason, of the social majority and of democracy, will not be silenced by these techno-oligarchs of the algorithm," he added.