“The Impunity of These Giants Must End”: Spain to Investigate Major Social Media Firms

Author: Vera Rousseff

February 19, 2026

HRRC firmly believes that social media companies must be held accountable for facilitating the creation and spread of child sexual abuse material and other harmful content online. We applaud European authorities for launching investigations into these companies and introducing legislation to protect individuals, especially children, from having their rights violated by major tech companies. We call on the United States to take similar regulatory measures.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez making an announcement in Madrid. [Image credit: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images]

On Tuesday, February 17, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on X that the Spanish government will ask prosecutors to investigate social media giants TikTok, Meta, and X for allegedly allowing the dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) created by artificial intelligence (AI). The announcement is the latest move in Europe’s ongoing effort to regulate social media companies, particularly when it comes to generating and spreading harmful content online.

“These platforms are undermining the mental health, dignity, and rights of our children,” Sánchez wrote. “The state ⁠cannot allow this. The impunity of these giants must end.” The Spanish government is already preparing a series of measures, announced earlier this month, intended to protect children and regulate big tech companies. These include a social media ban for children under the age of 16 and legislation that would hold social media companies accountable for abusive and hateful content.

The Spanish government’s recent request for an investigation is based on a technical report prepared by Spain’s Ministries of the Presidency, Digital Transformation, and Youth. The report analyzed whether social media firms can be held criminally liable for the generation and dissemination of CSAM and other sexual content, arguing that the platforms facilitate the dissemination of such materials at a speed and scale that make it difficult to detect and prosecute those responsible.

Spain’s regulation efforts have received intense pushback from tech moguls. Following Sánchez’s initial announcement made several weeks ago, an infuriated Elon Musk wrote on X, “Dirty Sánchez is a tyrant and a traitor to the people of Spain,” and later referred to Sánchez as “the true fascist totalitarian.” A day later, Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov sent a message to all Telegram users arguing that the Spanish government was “pushing dangerous new regulations that threaten your internet freedoms” and that the measures could turn the country “into a surveillance state.”

Recently, other European countries have also announced plans to hold social media companies accountable for the dissemination of harmful or explicit content. Earlier this month, the Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit raided the offices of X, and is now investigating whether the company has broken laws related to CSAM and Holocaust denial, among others. The European Commission also launched an investigation into X in January over the creation and dissemination of CSAM and other sexually explicit images generated by Grok, X’s AI chatbot.

While the European Union moves to curb the power of social media firms and protect users, the United States is increasingly adopting the opposite approach—deregulating social media companies under the guise of free speech. This year could see the transatlantic rift over big tech widen even further, potentially straining U.S.-EU relations.

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Glossary

• Abusive (Online Content): content that harms, threatens, humiliates, or targets a person or group.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): computer systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as creating images, writing text, or recognizing patterns.

• Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): images, videos, or other content that show the sexual abuse or exploitation of children. Creating, sharing, or possessing CSAM is illegal.

• Cybercrime: criminal activity that involves computers, digital networks, or the internet, such as hacking, online abuse, or illegal content sharing.

• Deregulation: the process of reducing or removing government rules and laws that control how companies operate.

• Dissemination: the act of spreading information or content to many people, especially online.

• European Commission: the executive body of the European Union that proposes laws, enforces rules, and manages policies across EU member states.

• European Union (EU): a political and economic group of European countries that work together on laws, trade, and shared policies.

• Explicit (Online Content): content that shows or describes sexual acts, nudity, or graphic sexual material in a clear and detailed way.

• Free Speech: the right to express opinions and ideas without censorship or punishment by the government, within legal limits.

• Guise: a way of presenting something so that its true purpose or nature is hidden.

• Holocaust Denial: the false claim that the Holocaust did not happen or that its scale and impact are exaggerated; it is illegal in some European countries.

• Impunity: freedom from punishment or consequences for harmful or illegal actions.

• Prosecutors: government lawyers who investigate crimes and bring cases against individuals or companies in court.

• Regulation: rules or laws created by governments to control or guide how companies and organizations behave.

• Surveillance State: a government system in which authorities closely monitor people’s activities, especially online, often raising concerns about privacy.

• Transatlantic: related to relations or interactions between Europe and North America, especially the United States.