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Spain leads EU social media ban for under-16s – will Hungary join?
Another European government has reached the conclusion that regulating social media can no longer be delayed, especially when it comes to children. In recent months, decisions have been made one after another that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, but today, ignoring them would carry significant political risk.
The latest measure comes from Spain, where Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that his government would ban social media use for those under 16 and require platforms to implement not just formal, but genuinely effective age verification.
Spain’s plan is part of a broader regulatory package, which Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez justified as a way to regain control over the digital space.
“Governments must stop turning a blind eye to the spread of toxic content,” the Spanish prime minister said.
As part of this regulatory package, Madrid is preparing legislative proposals that would hold social media company executives legally accountable for distributing illegal content. It would also create a new tool to monitor the online spread of disinformation, hate speech, and child pornography. The plans further include criminalizing the manipulation of algorithms and the deliberate amplification of illegal content.
Sánchez stated that authorities would specifically target platforms whose algorithms boost misleading content for business interests.
“We will examine those platforms whose algorithms amplify disinformation for profit.”
The prime minister added that spreading hate must have concrete consequences, both legal and economic, as well as moral.
According to a government source, Greece is also close to announcing a similar ban for children under 15. In December, Australia became the first country in the world to prohibit access to such platforms for those under 16.
A shift in Europe
The process of regulating social media is underway in parallel across multiple European countries, even if the solutions are not identical everywhere. France has already passed a law that would practically make social media use impossible for those under 15, while a ban for under-15s is being prepared in Denmark. In Portugal, the debate centers on access tied to parental consent.
“Our children’s and young people’s emotions are not for sale or manipulation by either American platforms or Chinese algorithms,” said French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron.
At the EU level, the Digital Services Act already obliges platforms to reduce risks arising from online content. The European Commission emphasizes close cooperation with member states to protect minors, though enforcement against major online platforms primarily falls under the Commission’s remit.
Last December, the Commission imposed a 120 million euro fine on Elon Musk’s X platform for breaching transparency obligations, and an investigation is ongoing into how the service handles the spread of illegal content and disinformation – as reported by Politico.
There is a growing trend for governments to place less trust in platforms’ self-regulation, especially given data on mental health, online harassment, and disinformation that repeatedly fuel political debates.
Should Hungary join?
In November 2025, the European Parliament adopted a position proposing a uniform 16-year age limit at EU level (with parental consent between 13-16), mandating verification and bans on addictive practices – this affects Hungary too, but it is not binding, so less strict than national bans, with uncertain enforcement.
In Hungary, a digital child protection bill is in parliamentary proceedings, introducing smart device restrictions in schools, screen time rules, and warnings for under-sixes, but it does not explicitly ban social media use.
This aligns with the government’s family protection priorities in response to the European trend, but relies more on preventive tools, making it milder than the Spanish or Australian models and easily circumventable. Hungary should consider similar robust measures, as digital child protection is a critical issue, and current preventive solutions often prove insufficiently effective.
Discover more about social media consumption trends in Hungary in our latest article:
And those under 18 ought not ever have access to cellphones, for a whole variety of reasons, not the least of which is 8, 9, and 10 year old boys becoming obsessive masturbators and little girls becoming obsessive textors.
We owe it to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to provide a childhood for them – a brief window of time to love life without the pressures of adult preoccupations.
We owe it to our chlldren to let them enjoy running around and using their imaginations, without being ‘instructed’ by electronic screens.
Hail to Mi Hazánk, and, specifically Dúro Dórá, for making this a constant issue.