Musk labels Spain PM ‘tyrant’ after Madrid proposes social media curbs | Elon Musk News

Musk’s scathing attack on PM Pedro Sanchez comes after he announces strict new regulations for social media platforms.

Tech billionaire and owner of X, Elon Musk, has dubbed socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez a “tyrant and traitor to the people” of Spain for introducing new social media curbs for children under the age of 16.

Musk’s comments on Tuesday came in response to an announcement by the Spanish prime minister that Madrid would introduce new changes to the country’s social media laws.

The proposed measures include a ban on social media for children under 16 and a new legal framework to hold tech executives criminally liable for illegal content. Sanchez also confirmed that the government would work with the public prosecutor to investigate alleged legal infringements by 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 the Spanish prime minister’s X post, in which he detailed the upcoming measures.

Grok has come under fire for allowing users to create sexually explicit fake images of women and minors, triggering an investigation by the European Commission.

The world’s richest man has been accused of platforming far-right and white supremacists, particularly in Europe. He has addressed a political rally of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the German city of Halle.

Spain’s move to tighten digital regulations comes amid a broader European push to restrict social media access for minors. Several European Union (EU) nations, including France, Greece, and Denmark, have recently proposed or approved similar bans for users under the age of 15 due to concerns related to mental health and the addictive nature of algorithms.

Madrid has also confirmed it is leading a “Coalition of the Digitally Willing” governments and regulators, comprising six European countries, to coordinate stricter cross-border enforcement against major tech platforms.

“Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone … We will no longer accept that,” Sanchez said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai. “We will protect them from the digital Wild West.”

Last year, Australia became the world’s first country to ban children under 16 from using social media, prompting other countries to consider similar age-based measures amid rising concerns over social media’s effects on children’s health and safety.