Minors and social media: banning is only the beginning

It was only a matter of time before the Spanish government announced restrictions on social media. This was foreshadowed by the interest in examples like Australia and, soon, France. The first spark of the debate on age restrictions ignited in the summer of 2024, with the controversy surrounding the consumption of pornographic content at very young ages. At that time, the government announced the Beta Digital Wallet, a digital passport that includes age verification—commonly known as pallaporte–. The restriction is also mentioned in the draft bill for the protection of minors in digital environments, which is currently being processed.

We agree that action is urgent, but let's be aware that a trial-and-error process lies ahead, and that anticipating problems while learning from what doesn't work in other countries will be paramount. The Australian experience already shows how teenagers and pre-teens quickly find countless ways to circumvent age restrictions, reducing their real impact and eroding the measure's credibility. Again, the Beta Digital Wallet is probably the best way to address this, and it should be operational in all European Union member states by the end of 2026. Online age verification is a technically complex issue and, at the same time, philosophically profound. Perhaps too complex to leave to the interests and judgment of large providers.

On the other hand, the proliferation of bans in different countries is a stark warning: it clearly demonstrates the outright rejection of platforms that profit by exploiting people's vulnerabilities. For years, these platforms have evaded responsibility for the impact of their systems by taking advantage of a legal loophole: they only respond when they have explicit knowledge of illegal content. The companies, their executives, and the major investors who fund them have consistently played dumb whenever they have been asked to address issues such as disinformation or hate speech. Faced with this pressure regulatory To take over content moderation, the response has been to systematically reduce teams (mostly subjected to unacceptable working conditions) and replace them with imprecise algorithmic supervision or community feedback.

So,This is a fertile time to build new role models. Denmark has wisely proposed accompanying the ban with training and promotion of alternatives. We must pressure the industry from all possible angles and, at the same time, foster public and socially responsible solutions: platforms and projects that connect us instead of polarizing us, that respect our attention instead of exploiting it, and that nurture mental health instead of making us ill.

The goal would be for young people to flourish and grow on desirable digital platforms by the time they reach 16. In other words, instead of simply trying to control the unpredictable, we need to rethink how we cultivate the land. The objective should be to prohibit the exploitation of attention as a marketable resource, especially when it's built upon the vulnerability of immature, insecure minds still searching for their own identity.

Furthermore, today's digital life isn't solely based on social media. Increasingly, conversational AI interfaces are becoming spaces for intimacy, confidences, and even mentorship. ChatGPT, Character AI, and Claude have become part of their inner circle of trust. 70% of users have they speak usually, and a third of those who do it feel that it is so rewarding or more than talking to another person. The problem isn't that they talk, but that they trust. These apps aren't designed to provide emotional support to an immature, insecure brain that's still developing its identity, but rather to maximize their use, dependence, and continued engagement. We cannot forget that these are tools that are based on calculating which word is most likely to be used next., although the degree of anthropomorphization makes us forget that what is on the other side is only code.

It won't be easy, and it will take time and effort, but the journey will be worthwhile. The digital industry won't change on its own, and we must focus on giving visibility to the alternatives that already exist: companies and projects with transformative business models, built on the utmost respect for human vulnerability. This has worked in other cases, such as with alcohol and tobacco, traffic laws, and fossil fuels. In terms of a digital society, I wouldn't say we're close, but we've never been as close as we are now.