MADRID, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The Spanish government has ordered prosecutors to investigate social media platforms X, Meta and TikTok for allegedly spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse material, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday.
The announcement comes as European regulators are cracking down on big tech companies, alleging the prevalence of abusive practices on online platforms ranging from anti-competitive behaviour in digital advertising to deliberate design of addictive features on social media.
The three companies named by Sanchez did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
GROWING GLOBAL SCRUTINY OF TECH PLATFORMS
"These platforms are undermining the mental health, dignity, and rights of our children," Sanchez wrote on his X account. "The state cannot allow this. The impunity of these giants must end."
He said the government would ask prosecutors to "investigate the crimes that X, Meta, and TikTok may be committing through the creation and dissemination of child pornography using their AI".
Spain is not the only country probing sexually explicit content generated by Elon Musk's xAI chatbot Grok on X - other governments have launched investigations, bans and demands for safeguards in a growing global push to curb illegal material.
Earlier this month, Sanchez announced several measures aimed at curbing online abuse and protecting children, including a proposed ban on access to social media platforms for those under the age of 16.
On the same day, French police raided the offices of Musk's X and prosecutors ordered the tech billionaire to face questions in a widening investigation amid growing scrutiny of the platform by authorities across Europe.
In November, Sanchez said that Spain's parliament would investigate Meta for possible privacy violations of its Facebook and Instagram users.
Meanwhile, Ireland's Data Protection Commission said on Tuesday it had opened a formal investigation into Grok over the processing of personal data and its potential to produce harmful sexualised images and video, including of children.
(Reporting by David Latona and Victoria Waldersee; Additional reporting by Charlie Devereux and Emma Pinedo; Editing by Joe Bavier and Alex Richardson)
