Spain calls for suspension of TikTok after allegations of child sexual abuse

The request was made this Tuesday (10), after an investigation identified 1,183 explicit publications of this type on the social network, which totaled millions of views.

Spain's Youth Minister, Sira Rego, forwarded the request to the country's Public Ministry and Data Protection Agency. The department does not have the authority to determine, alone, the suspension of the platform.

The request comes months after the Spanish government requested an investigation into X, Meta and TikTok on suspicion of disseminating child sexual abuse material generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

The case comes amid increased scrutiny of technology companies by European regulators, who have increased pressure on platforms to combat illegal and harmful content.

An investigation published on Monday (9) by the Spanish fact-checking organization Maldita.es identified 1,183 explicit posts of child sexual abuse on TikTok.

According to the entity, the videos were viewed at least 48 million times. More than 26 thousand profiles commented or shared the material.

In an update published on Tuesday night, the organization reported that TikTok had restricted two expressions used in searches that led to this type of content for users in Spain.

Despite the measure, searches carried out in other European countries still directed users to the same publications.