00:00Ladies and gentlemen, today I could stand here and speak about the outstanding performance of the Spanish economy
00:10and all the investment opportunities it offers.
00:15About a country whose economy grew by 2.8% in 2025, almost twice the euro area average,
00:24whose GDP has just exceeded $2 trillion, that created almost 600,000 jobs last year,
00:34about half of all new employment in the European Union.
00:38I could also speak about our new sovereign wealth fund, España Crece,
00:45launched with the ambition to mobilize up to 120 billion euros in public and private investment
00:52in areas such as artificial intelligence, clean energy, or quantum computing.
00:58Yes, you probably expect me to sing the praises of an economy
01:04that has constantly ranked among the world's top performers over the past few years.
01:11But I won't do so for a simple reason.
01:15Others do it for us.
01:17Just open the Financial Times or the Economist, turn on CNN or Bloomberg,
01:22and you will hear about the excellence of the Spanish model,
01:26a model where the 4Gs, growth, green, generosity, and global, go together.
01:33Because we grow at record level while sharing the benefits, cutting emissions, and remaining open.
01:40While others look inwards, we look outwards, finding new partners in new regions and welcoming those who come from abroad.
01:52Spain builds bridges, not fences.
01:56It looks to the future, not to the past.
02:00It embraces cooperation, not fragmentation.
02:03But, Your Highnesses, ladies and gentlemen, today I want to talk about something else.
02:11Something that is at the core of the values of good governance and balanced progress that define this unique forum.
02:20A problem that no country can face alone, and is digital governance.
02:26I have been Prime Minister of Spain for almost eight years.
02:32And throughout this time, I have defended the same vision of the world.
02:37A vision where peace comes first, where people are at the center of the economy,
02:43where progress doesn't come at the expense of the most vulnerable or the planet.
02:48That vision hasn't changed in all these years, but the world has, drastically, and for the worst.
02:59Not only in the physical world of economies, borders, and institutions, but also in the digital world we have built.
03:09It is there, in that virtual space, where the foundations that once held us together are being undermined.
03:17Where social bonds are being turned upside down into a kind of zero-sum competition without rules.
03:28Where the values of equality and fairness are being openly attacked.
03:32We were told that social media would become a tool for global understanding and cooperation.
03:38A vehicle for freedom, transparency, and accountability.
03:43A space where feats and algorithms would help improve our societies.
03:50And our lives.
03:52But the opposite has happened.
03:56Social media has become a failed state.
04:00A place where laws are ignored and crime is endured.
04:04Where disinformation is worth more than truth.
04:08And half of users suffer hate speech.
04:12A failed state in which algorithms distort the public conversation.
04:17And our data and image are defied and sold.
04:21Just in the last year alone, TikTok has been accused of tolerating malicious accounts
04:27that shared AI-generated child abuse materials.
04:32The face of real kids put in fake nude bodies.
04:37Just last week, the owner of X, a migrant himself, used his personal account to amplify this information
04:46about the sovereign decision by my government.
04:49The regularization of 500,000 migrants that live, work, and contribute to the success of our country.
04:57The same platform that has allowed its AI group to generate illegal sexual content.
05:06Meanwhile, Instagram has been accused of spying on millions of Android users around the world.
05:13Facebook has been used to deploy hundreds of misinformation and foreign interference campaigns
05:19during national and regional elections.
05:23Because all these cases are real and fresh and represent just the tip of the iceberg.
05:33A small sample of the many crimes and misconducts that are taking place every day on social media.
05:40Some may say that if we do not like social media platforms, we can simply leave them.
05:51That no one is forced to use X or TikTok.
05:55And they're right.
05:56For many of us, this is still an option.
06:00But we know that our children and many citizens do not have that choice.
06:05Social media has become an integral part of their lives, of their reality.
06:12So if we want to protect them, there's only one thing we can do.
06:19Take back control.
06:21We need to make sure that these platforms comply with the rules like everybody else.
06:28I know that it won't be easy.
06:32Social media companies are wealthier and more powerful than many nations, including mine.
06:39But their might and power should not scare us.
06:43Because our determination is greater than their pockets.
06:48Last year, I went to Davos to warn governments about the dangers of social media.
06:54Now, I am here in Dubai to tell you and explain that Spain is walking the talk.
07:02We are fighting back.
07:04And we will continue to do so.
07:06Starting next week, my government will implement the following actions.
07:11First, we will change the law in Spain to hold platform executives legally accountable
07:17for many infringements taking place on their sites.
07:22This means that CEOs of these techno platforms will face criminal liability for failing to remove illegal or hateful content.
07:34And for that, we governments need to stop turning a blind eye to the toxic content shared under their watch.
07:43Second, we will turn algorithmic manipulation and amplification of illegal content into a new criminal offense.
07:54This information doesn't appear by itself.
07:57It is created, promoted, and spread by certain actors.
08:01First, we will go after them as well as after the platforms whose algorithms amplify the disinformation for profit.
08:11No more hiding behind code.
08:14No more pretending that technology is neutral.
08:19Third, we will implement a hate and polarization footprint, a system to track, quantify,
08:27and expose how digital platforms fuel, division, and amplify hate.
08:33For too long, hate has been treated as invisible and untraceable.
08:39But we will change that, developing a tool that will provide the basis for undertaking future penalties.
08:46Because spreading hate must come at a cost.
08:51A legal cost, of course, a financial cost, and a moral cost that platforms can no longer afford to ignore.
09:00Fourth, Spain will ban access to social media for minors under the age of 16.
09:07Platforms will be required to implement effective age verification systems, not just checkboxes, but real barriers that work.
09:18Today, our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone.
09:25Space of addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation, violence.
09:32We will no longer accept that.
09:34We will protect them from the digital wild west.
09:39Fifth, and last, my government will work with our public prosecutor to investigate and pursue the infringement committed by Grok, TikTok, and Instagram.
09:54We will have zero tolerance on this matter.
09:57And we will defend our digital sovereignty against any form of foreign coercion.
10:02These, ladies and gentlemen, are the five measures that my government will implement to turn social media into a healthy and democratic space it should be.
10:15The good social media that we were promised more than 20 years ago.
10:28Of course, we are well aware of our limitations.
10:32We know that this is a battle that far exceeds the boundaries of any country.
10:39That is why I want to inform you that Spain has joined forces with five other European countries in a coalition of the digital willing,
10:47committed to enforcing stricter, faster, and more effective regulation of social media platforms.
10:54A coalition that will hold its first meeting in the coming days and will advance coordinated actions at a multinational scale.
11:05Something that, in the current context, when the sovereignty of Ukraine, Palestine, or Greece is at stake,
11:14it would be a mistake to devote such efforts to a peripheral conflict that affects no physical territory.
11:22But make no mistake, what we are facing is the convergence of two failures.
11:28A digital space without responsibility weakening us from within,
11:33and a global order under strain from the outside.
11:37Both demand governance, not resignation.
11:42That is why we must act with courage, with unity, and with hope.
11:48Because moments like this define generations, and generations like us define the future for the generations to come.
11:57So let's rise to the task.
11:59Let's choose governance over resignation,
12:02cooperation over fragmentation,
12:05responsibility over silence.
12:07Let's return social media to the promised land that it should have never abandoned.
12:13Sukram, thank you very much.
Comentarios