Europe squares up to Big Tech, risking ire of Washington

European nations are ratcheting up the pressure on social media companies, risking a backlash from the United States

European nations are ratcheting up the pressure on social media companies, responding to a public outcry ‌over child safety fears but risking a backlash from the United States, home to ​the likes of Facebook and Elon Musk’s X.

Spain on Tuesday ordered prosecutors to ⁠investigate Facebook owner Meta, X and TikTok for allegedly spreading AI-generated child sexual images, after a similar move in Britain.

Ireland also opened a formal probe of X’s AI chatbot Grok over its processing of personal data and the production ‌of harmful sexualised images.

A growing list of European countries (France, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Slovenia and the Czech Republic) has in recent weeks moved to follow Australia in proposing a social ‌media ban for adolescents, amid rising concern about addiction, online abuse and falling school performance.

Germany and ‌Britain ⁠are weighing similar steps.

The national actions reflect political urgency but also frustration with the ⁠European Union. Politicians, advisers and analysts say governments are acting alone because they doubt Brussels will move quickly or forcefully enough - even though individual states face the same legal, diplomatic and enforcement hurdles as the EU.