Tech billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of X, has launched a scathing attack on Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, branding him a “tyrant and traitor to the people” over proposed restrictions on children’s access to social media.
Musk’s remarks on Tuesday followed an announcement by Sánchez that Spain’s government plans to overhaul its social media regulations, introducing stricter controls aimed at protecting minors.
Among the proposed measures is a blanket ban on social media use for children under the age of 16, alongside the creation of a new legal framework that could hold senior technology executives criminally responsible for hosting illegal content on their platforms. Sánchez also said the government would work closely with Spain’s public prosecutor to investigate alleged violations of the law by major platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, and Musk’s own AI chatbot, Grok.
“Dirty Sanchez is a tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain,” Musk wrote in response to a post by the Spanish prime minister on X outlining the planned reforms.
Grok has recently faced criticism after reports that it allowed users to generate sexually explicit fake images of women and minors, prompting the European Commission to open an investigation into the chatbot.
The world’s richest man has previously been accused of allowing far-right and white supremacist figures to gain prominence on X, particularly across Europe. Musk has also appeared at a political rally organised by Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the city of Halle, further fuelling controversy around his political engagement on the continent.
Spain’s push to tighten digital regulations comes as part of a wider European effort to curb minors’ access to social media platforms. Several European Union member states, including France, Greece, and Denmark, have recently proposed or adopted similar restrictions for users under the age of 15, citing concerns over mental health, online safety, and the addictive nature of social media algorithms. Madrid has also confirmed it is spearheading a so-called “Coalition of the Digitally Willing”, bringing together governments and regulators from six European countries to coordinate tougher cross-border enforcement against major technology companies.
“Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone,” Sánchez said during remarks at the World Governments Summit in Dubai. “We will no longer accept that. We will protect them from the digital Wild West.”
The debate over age-based restrictions on social media has intensified globally in recent years. Last year, Australia became the first country in the world to ban children under the age of 16 from using social media, a move that has prompted other governments to consider similar measures amid growing concerns about the impact of online platforms on children’s health, safety, and wellbeing.
