Overview
- The government has renewed its push to set 16 as the minimum age for platform accounts and to compel effective age checks, but the proposal remains under parliamentary review with no implementation details approved.
- Jurists and a cybercrime prosecutor warn the measure likely requires an organic law touching fundamental rights and could face constitutional challenges, with a decree route viewed as vulnerable in court.
- Specialists say trustworthy, privacy‑respecting verification technology is not ready at scale and point to easy workarounds used abroad such as VPNs and fake or borrowed credentials.
- Scope questions persist, as a government source says the rule changes the age of consent for personal‑data processing, a framing that could reach services like WhatsApp even if they are not classic social networks.
- Public‑health experts cite links between intensive social‑media use and anxiety, depression and poorer school performance, former AEPD chief Mar España backs swift passage, and tech leaders including Elon Musk and Pavel Durov attack the plan.