European countries are still taking their broadest swipe at social media, with an increasing number weighing on services for minors and setting the stage for a new showdown with some major US companies.
The policy was first implemented in Australia, covering MetaPlatforms Inc.’s Instagram and Facebook, Snap Inc., Elon Musk’s X, TechTalk and Google’s YouTube. Now it’s catching on in Europe, and regulators are threatening to cut off access to millions of young users of services it calls harmful and addictive. And the critical advertising dollars that come with them.
It took a stark political, ideological and personal turn when Spain became the latest country to propose a ban on the services, along with the country’s Socialist leader and Musk, who has called for the end of the European Union and seen his X offices in Paris raided, making the fight public.
“Social media has become a failed state,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a speech in Dubai on Tuesday. “I know it won’t be easy. Social media companies are wealthier and more powerful than many countries, including mine. But their power and strength should not frighten us.”
Musk responded on X a few hours later: “Dirty Sanchez is cruel and traitorous to the people of Spain.”
With at least six other countries — France, Britain, Portugal, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands — and the European Union weighing in, the move signals a clear direction of travel and heightens the culture war with the Trump administration and the world’s most powerful tycoons.
Representatives for MetaPlatforms Inc., Snap Inc., TechTalk, YouTube and X did not respond to requests for comment.
Although European regulators have repeatedly punished US social media companies for monopolistic practices, their hoarding of user data and the spread of harmful content have meant that antipathy has intensified in Silicon Valley in recent weeks.
This is largely due to the outrage over Elon Musk’s Grok after the artificial intelligence chatbot, which was run by Musk’s Zee, generated millions of non-consensual, sexualized images on his social platform X. Many were women, but some of the undressing photos included children.
The company said it would rein in the device, but regulators around the world stepped in and it has become a hot-button issue for politicians and sensitive voters alike.
European actions could trigger an aggressive response from President Donald Trump and his entourage. Europe has been a frequent target of its ire and the transatlantic partnership has been a focal point of global order for the past eight decades.
In December, Trump let Europe “be very careful” after EU tech regulators fined Musk $140 million for violating its online content rule.
After fireworks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, tensions could easily erupt later this month at the Munich Security Conference, where last year Vice President JD Vance accused Europeans of “digital censorship”.
Personal animosity was on display when Sanchez accused Musk of spreading “unknowns” about Spain’s move to legalize undocumented immigrants. The billionaire had previously retweeted a post calling it “election engineering”.
“Earlier in the Trump presidency, there were concerns of retaliation if countries acted too aggressively against Big Tech,” said Zach Meyers, director of research at the Center on Regulation in Europe. “It has fallen somewhat in recent months.”
Platforms have a lot to lose if the pipeline of younger users is cut off. Adoption by the likes of TikTok and Snapchat accelerated on the back of teenagers, whose preferences for features such as filters, vertical video and disappearing posts have generally influenced the design of consumer apps.
YouTube has a large audience of children, which has invited political scrutiny in the past.
Still, these features are also seen as addictive and several of the biggest networks have faced lawsuits in the US, facing accusations that their products are harmful to young people.
Europe is the second-largest region for many tech firms after North America, thanks to widespread tech adoption and a mature online advertising ecosystem. For both Snap Inc. and MetaPlatforms Inc., revenue is growing faster in Europe than in the U.S.
“Europe is a cash cow for Big Tech, so this is a huge problem for them,” said Alicia García Herrero, a senior fellow at Bruegel, adding that a ban on the U.S. would be seen as political.
Enforcing such restrictions is not easy. Digital policy experts also question whether there is enough evidence that the ban will encourage children to spend more time offline.
Australia became the first in the world to crack down on social media for children, with tech companies shutting down accounts for 500,000 children under the age of 16 in December.
Tech platforms there have argued that cutting minors off from services is difficult, if not impossible, and could lead to broader problems.
The process of proving age can involve sharing sensitive documents, such as a driver’s license or passport, opening the door to cyber-attacks or data misuse. A ban also risks driving consumers to less legitimate services.
Countries seeking to replicate Australian laws will each have their own hurdles.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been a staunch advocate for age limits on social media. In 2024, he called screen addiction “a breeding ground for all kinds of problems: bullying, violence, dropping out of school.” Last week, its National Assembly banned social media services for children under the age of 15. The bill will now move to the Senate for adoption.
However, France has struggled to implement other Internet policing measures. A recent law banning online pornography for minors requires people to verify their age through third-party services. There is evidence that many web users have tapped virtual private networks, or VPNs, to mask their identities.
“VPN is the next topic on my list,” France’s AI and digital affairs minister, Anne-Lehannoff, said on French TV last week.
There were similar concerns when the UK introduced age checks and the country is consulting on various measures, such as restricting access by age, creating phone curfews and rules around addictive design. It expects to make a decision in the summer.
“There’s no point in consulting if I’ve already made up my mind,” UK technology secretary Liz Kendall said in an interview last month. “Different views are strongly held on both sides.”
Top photo: Elon Musk during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Photo credit: Christine Boxey/Bloomberg
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