The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Tuesday, during the opening of the World Governments Summit in Dubai, the five legislative and regulatory measures the Spanish Government will implement to protect minors and strengthen controls on social media against disinformation, hate speech, and the lack of protection of personal data and materials.
“Laws are ignored and crimes are tolerated,” Sánchez warned during his keynote address at the opening of the forum, organized by the Government of the United Arab Emirates since 2013. This year’s edition brings together the largest number of leaders in its history, with some fifty heads of state and government, more than 500 ministers, and representatives from over 150 governments, along with a significant presence of opinion leaders and global experts.
In his speech, the Prime Minister analyzed the “lack of governance in content control” and the impunity surrounding violations of the law, the spread of disinformation and hate speech, and the lack of protection of personal data and material, which represent “serious dangers” to rights and freedoms and “particularly distort the lives of minors who have integrated the use of social media into their daily routines.”
Therefore, Sánchez announced five legislative and regulatory measures aimed at digital platforms, including a ban in Spain on access to social networks for minors under sixteen, requiring digital platforms to implement effective age verification systems.
Furthermore, through a reform of the law, Pedro Sánchez also proposes ending the impunity of executives so that they are legally responsible for infractions committed on their platforms if they fail to remove content that violates the law or is considered hateful.
He also announced that manipulating algorithms and amplifying illegal content will be classified as crimes. In defense of digital sovereignty, and appealing to “zero tolerance” for any form of coercion, he reported that the government will work with the public prosecutor’s office to explore ways to investigate potential legal violations by Google, TikTok, and Instagram.
Furthermore, to combat the amplification of hate speech, President Sánchez announced the creation of a tracking, quantification, and traceability system to establish a “Hate and Polarization Footprint” and expose the permissiveness of digital platforms that fuel this type of content, whose impact is contributing to greater social division.
The Prime Minister also announced that Spain has joined five other European countries in the “Digital Readiness Coalition” to advance in a coordinated and effective manner at a multinational level in implementing stricter, faster, and more effective regulations for social media platforms. The coalition, made up of Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal, proposes the creation of a pan-European payment solution to facilitate cross-border digital payments in Europe without the need to switch applications.
Presentation of ‘Spain Grows’ to Emirati sovereign wealth funds
On the sidelines of the forum, President Sánchez held a series of meetings, including one with Brian Gu, honorary vice president of the board of directors and co-president of XPeng Motors. He also met with representatives of Spanish companies based in the United Arab Emirates and had the opportunity to present the government fund ‘Spain Grows’ to representatives of the sovereign wealth funds MUBADALA and MASDAR, who, according to Moncloa (the Prime Minister’s office), “conveyed their congratulations on the strong performance of the Spanish economy and their interest in continuing to grow in Spain.”