Spain Pushes to Suspend TikTok After Child Safety Investigation: Could Other European Countries Follow?
Imagine this: a 10-year-old girl goes live from her bedroom, and an app recommends her stream to strangers. Within minutes, an adult is posting suggestive comments. According to Spanish researchers, that is exactly what happened on TikTok. It’s one reason a Spain TikTok suspension is now on the table.
What Spain Is Asking For
Spain’s youth and children’s minister asked the country’s data protection agency on Tuesday to temporarily suspend TikTok. Minister Sira Rego called it an exceptional measure and said she had also urged the company to suspend its services voluntarily.
Her ministry has also asked prosecutors to investigate.
What the Investigation Found
The trigger was a report by Maldita.es, a Spanish fact-checking nonprofit. Over 35 days, it documented more than 1,100 public posts containing child sexual abuse material, which drew over 48 million views.
The platform’s response was uneven. Of 50 videos the researchers reported, TikTok initially removed five and blocked another 13 in Spain. Of 231 accounts that had posted explicit material, 136 were still active on the final day of the investigation.
What TikTok Has Said
TikTok had not answered detailed questions when the report came out. Maldita.es later said the company restricted two search terms linked to abusive content for users in Spain. Back in February, in a separate case, the company said such material is “abhorrent and categorically prohibited on our platform.”
Could Other European Countries Follow?
So far, I found no other government publicly asking for a similar suspension. But the mood across Europe is clearly shifting.
Reuters reported that European nations are increasing pressure on social media companies in response to public outcry over child safety. Separately, the European Commission has preliminarily concluded that TikTok may have breached the Digital Services Act, which could mean fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover.
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