The Spanish government on 9 November 2026 asked the Attorney General’s Office to investigate the dissemination of depictions of child sexual abuse on TikTok At the same time, the relevant ministries are examining whether a temporary suspension of the service in Spain would be legally possible and proportionate. No decision on specific measures has yet been made.
The trigger was an investigation published the same day by the non-profit platform Maldita.es. According to the platform, a large number of accounts and posts were documented during a short period of monitoring; they either showed the sexual abuse of minors or were intended to make contact with children. Maldita.es reports that the platform removed only some of the content reported to it. The publication prompted the government to involve law-enforcement authorities and examine the possible legal basis for administrative intervention.
A nationwide block would have far-reaching legal and practical implications. National rules would have to comply with European law, in particular the Digital Services Act. This requires very large online platforms to have effective procedures for dealing with illegal content and specific safeguards to protect minors. On 6 November 2026, the European Commission said in a preliminary assessment that key TikTok recommendation mechanisms, including the For You feed, may breach DSA requirements on the protection of minors. The European Commission Representation in Spain refers to the ongoing supervisory proceedings in its account.
An investigation by the Attorney General’s Office could lead to the identification of individual content creators and the networks behind them. Administrative measures could include orders affecting the platform’s operation or intermediaries, which in practice would restrict access to TikTok in Spain. Such steps would likely be subject to judicial review and would have to respect the principle of proportionality. In similar cases, human rights and media law organisations regularly call for careful preservation of evidence and clear thresholds for intervention.
TikTok has not yet commented publicly on the measures under consideration in Spain; no reliable statements are available about the outcome of the investigation or a decision to block the service. What is clear is that the information from Maldita.es has created an urgent impetus and comes amid an ongoing European regulatory process. The relevant authorities say that further decisions will be announced with reference to the applicable criminal and administrative procedures.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).