European nations are intensifying regulatory pressure on social media companies in response to public outcry over child safety concerns, a move that could provoke a strong reaction from the United States—home to tech giants like Facebook and Elon Musk's X.

Following similar actions in the UK, Spain on Tuesday ordered prosecutors to investigate Meta, the parent company of Facebook, along with X and TikTok, accusing them of distributing AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery.

Ireland has also formally launched an investigation into X's AI chatbot Grok, focusing on its handling of personal data and generation of harmful explicit content.

In recent weeks, a growing number of European countries—including France, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic—have followed Australia's lead by proposing bans on social media use by teenagers, citing increasing concerns over internet addiction, cyberbullying, and declining academic performance.

Germany and the UK are also considering similar measures.

These national-level actions reflect both political urgency and frustration with the European Union. Politicians, advisors, and analysts say that governments are acting individually because they doubt the EU (Brussels) is moving quickly or forcefully enough—despite facing the same legal, diplomatic, and enforcement hurdles as the EU.

Geopolitical Tensions

The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which took effect in 2024, stipulates that large platforms failing to curb illegal or harmful content can be fined up to 6% of their global annual turnover.

However, enforcing penalties is politically risky. Former U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs and sanctions if EU nations impose new tech taxes or enforce the DSA in ways that target American companies.

The European Commission has denied being lenient toward U.S. tech giants and noted in an online statement on Tuesday that it has opened investigations into several companies, including X and its Grok chatbot.

"Through measures such as the Digital Services Act, the EU is shaping Europe's digital future. We support, fund, and regulate new technologies with the aim of strengthening democracy," the statement said.

Rhetoric from both sides has at times been sharp.

French President Emmanuel Macron last year described U.S. resistance to European regulation as a "geopolitical struggle."

In December, the Trump administration warned that Europe is facing the "demise of civilization" and urged the U.S. to "resist Europe’s current trajectory."

Spain's Minister of Consumer Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, stated in an interview on Tuesday that Spain's crackdown aims to "break free from digital dependence on the United States," adding that some platforms are being used to "undermine European democracy from within."

Nations Acting Independently

Denmark's Digitalization Ministry told reporters that amendments to the DSA guidelines on July 14, which allow countries to enact age-restriction laws, prompted Denmark to take independent action.

Spain's Minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego, explained that Spain had been preparing action for months, but the incident involving Grok generating non-consensual explicit imagery of minors was the final trigger. This led Spain to propose banning social media for those under 16 and to legislate holding social media CEOs accountable for hate speech.

For French President Emmanuel Macron, who has blamed social media for contributing to youth violence, a turning point was the June stabbing death of a school teaching assistant by a 14-year-old student. He said he would push for an EU-wide ban on social media for teenagers and, if necessary, France would act unilaterally.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said reading Jonathan Haidt's "The Anxious Generation"—which argues that smartphones and social media are "rewiring" children's brains—was "an eye-opening experience."

"We are conducting the largest unregulated experiment ever on children's brains," he said.