Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announces the investigation of platforms X, Facebook and TikTok: “The impunity of these giants must end”
The Spanish government has ordered prosecutors to investigate platforms X, Meta and TikTok, less than two weeks after the prime minister announced that he would ban access to social networks for people under 16, Reuters and El Pais write.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that on Tuesday the government will ask the Prosecutor's Office to investigate crimes that digital platforms “could commit by creating and distributing child pornography using artificial intelligence”, referring to generative tools capable of creating sexualized images of minors (deepfakes).
“These platforms endanger the mental health, dignity and rights of our children. The state cannot allow this. The impunity of these giants must end,” the prime minister wrote on his account on the social network X, one of the platforms he plans to take action against, according to El Pais.
In his message, Sánchez referenced X, Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) and TikTok.
“A failed state”
Two weeks ago, Sánchez announced that the government would ban access to social media for under-16s due to the mental health implications of exposure to inappropriate content.
“Social media has become a failed state where laws are ignored and crimes are tolerated,” he said.
Therefore, he announced the initiative to ban access to these platforms for people under the age of 16, a measure that is currently being drafted in Congress.
“We will protect them from the digital Wild West,” the prime minister said.
Legal measures, technical measures
New laws proposed by the government would also criminalize manipulating algorithms to amplify illegal content.
He also referred to a new system designed to track “how digital platforms fuel division and amplify hatred”. No further details were provided on how this system would work.
“Let the techno-oligarchs bark.” How Spain and Socialist Prime Minister Sanchez came to the front line of the conflict with Elon Musk and the social platform magnates
El Pais writes on Tuesday that of the other five measures proposed by Sánchez, two are more of a legal nature: legislation that allows measures to be taken against executives of large technology companies for “multiple violations that take place on their platforms” and the introduction of the crime of algorithm manipulation.
The other two are more technical: restricting minors' access to social media and implementing a system to monitor toxic online speech, a “hate and polarization trail that will track, quantify and reveal how digital platforms fuel division and amplify hatred,” in Sánchez's words.
Sanchez, attacked by Musk and Durov
The policies announced by the Spanish Prime Minister were met with dissatisfaction by the owners of the social platforms.
The announcement earlier this month drew harsh attacks from Musk, particularly as the Spanish prime minister criticized the billionaire for using X to “amplify disinformation” about his administration's decision last week to regularize 500,000 undocumented workers and asylum seekers, pointing out that Musk himself was a migrant.
Musk responded on X: “Sánchez is a tyrant and a traitor to the Spanish people.” “Sánchez is the true totalitarian fascist,” added Musk.
Sánchez was also attacked by Telegram founder Pavel Durov.
Durov spoke of “dangerous new regulations that threaten your freedoms on the Internet” in a Wednesday post on his Telegram messaging app, which has about one billion users, AFP writes.
“These measures could turn Spain into a surveillance state under the guise of protection,” he wrote, saying enforcement of the rules would lead to mass data collection and censorship.
Sanchez responded to X with his own interpretation of a quote from Miguel de Cervantes' novel “Don Quixote”:
“Let the techno-oligarchs bark Sancho, it's a sign we're moving forward,” Sanchez wrote.
