Spain Demands TikTok Halt Operations After Report Finds Over 1,000 Child Abuse Videos

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A Government Loses Patience

On Tuesday, Spain's Ministry of Youth and Children said TikTok should suspend its activities in Spain until it has eliminated child sexual abuse material from its platform. Minister Sira Rego said social media "cannot be lawless territory."

Her ministry has no power to shut down a platform by itself. It has therefore asked Spain's prosecutors and the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) to act. According to Maldita.es, Rego said that if it were up to her, TikTok would have been suspended the day before.

What the Investigation Found

The demand follows a report by Maldita.es, a Spanish nonprofit that specialises in fact-checking. Over 35 days, its researchers documented 1,183 public posts containing explicit child sexual abuse material. Together, these posts had been viewed at least 48 million times.

The group also reported more than 26,000 profiles that commented on or shared such material. Other findings pointed to accounts that used harmless-looking photos of children to steer users toward channels where illegal material was traded. "Material you would expect to find only on the dark web is on TikTok," Maldita.es said.

TikTok's Response Under Scrutiny

Maldita.es reported a sample of 50 videos to TikTok through its official reporting channels. According to the group, only five were removed. TikTok had not answered Maldita.es's questions when the report was published and asked for more information instead. It also did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The company says it has a zero-tolerance policy on child sexual exploitation. Maldita.es has questioned how well that policy works in practice. An earlier investigation in May 2026 found that TikTok left accounts online even after agreeing that they broke its rules.

On Tuesday evening, Maldita.es published a follow-up. It said TikTok had blocked two search terms that led to abusive content for users in Spain, but that searches from other European countries still led to the same material.

Background: Europe Tightens the Screws

This is not Spain's first move against big tech platforms. In February 2026, the government asked prosecutors to investigate X, Meta and TikTok over AI-generated child abuse material. Regulators across Europe are increasingly pressing platforms to deal with illegal and harmful content.

The case also raises a wider question about trust. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a company based in Beijing, and governments in several countries have long questioned how much control Western users and authorities really have over a platform run from China, where companies operate under the one-party rule of the Chinese Communist Party. The Spanish case is about child safety, not geopolitics. Still, it shows how hard it can be to hold a foreign-owned platform accountable when its safeguards fail.

What Happens Next

A suspension is far from certain. The AEPD and the prosecutors must now decide whether to act, and TikTok will likely defend itself. The ministry has also asked TikTok to explain its failures and present a plan to fix them.

Whatever the outcome, the pressure on TikTok is growing. For parents, the case is a reminder that platform promises of "zero tolerance" can differ sharply from reality.

Readers who encounter child abuse material online can report it anonymously through the Internet Watch Foundation (iwf.org.uk) or INHOPE (inhope.org).

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Sources

1. Reuters, "Spain demands that TikTok suspend operations until child sexual abuse material gone" (10 Nov 2026): https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/spain-demands-that-tiktok-suspend-operations-until-child-sexual-abuse-material-2026-11-10/
2. Maldita.es, "The Ministry asks the AEPD to suspend TikTok as an interim measure" (10 Nov 2026): https://maldita.es/investigaciones/20261110/ministerio-aepd-suspension-cautelar-tiktok-maldita/
3. Maldita.es, "We reported explicit child sexual abuse videos to TikTok: only 10% were deleted" (9 Nov 2026): https://maldita.es/investigaciones/20261109/denunciamos-tiktok-videos-abuso-infantil/
4. Al Jazeera, "Spain mulls TikTok suspension after investigation into child sex abuse videos" (10 Nov 2026): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/10/spanish-probe-finds-over-20000-suspected-paedophile-profiles-on-tiktok
5. Anadolu Agency via ANews, "Spain seeks probe into child sexual abuse material on TikTok, weighs nationwide suspension" (9 Nov 2026): https://www.anews.com.tr/world/2026/11/09/spain-seeks-probe-into-child-sexual-abuse-material-on-tiktok-weighs-nationwide-suspension

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