MADRID — Spain has asked its data protection agency to temporarily suspend TikTok after an independent investigation found more than 1,000 child sexual abuse videos on the platform with a total of 48 million views — yaani about 4.8 crore views — Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday.

Source: Al Jazeera via Bytes Europe

Youth and Children Minister Sira Rego said she met the platform's representatives in Spain on Tuesday and described the requested suspension as an exceptional measure, adding that she had urged TikTok to suspend its services voluntarily. "It is not up to the government to suspend TikTok as a precaution. If it were up to us, it would have been suspended yesterday," she told reporters after the meeting. Rego said TikTok, owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, pledged to "study and evaluate" the findings during the meeting but offered no commitments to an audit or new verification measures.

The escalation follows Monday's step: the Ministry of Youth and Childhood sent a written report to the State Prosecutor's Office asking it to intervene over the dissemination of child sexual abuse material on TikTok and the platform's possible shortcomings in detecting, removing and preventing it, the Spanish outlet Democrata reported, citing the ministry led by Rego.

1,183Explicit child-abuse items posted by 231 profiles in Maldita.es's 35-day investigation (Sep 11–Oct 15)
48 millionTotal views on that material — yaani about 4.8 crore views
20,000+Profiles of suspected paedophiles detected, 7,000 of them in Spanish; about 26,000 suspect accounts in all categories were handed to authorities
5 of 50Reported abuse videos TikTok fully removed from a test sample of 50; 13 were blocked only in Spain and 29 were judged non-infringing

What the investigation found

The investigation, "TikTok: Home to predators", was carried out by the Spanish foundation Maldita.es, which combats disinformation. Its team analysed profiles, comments and live broadcasts over 35 days in September and October, and created its own accounts to see how the algorithm responded. It said that in just three days the algorithm recommended 19 livestreams by minors, including 15 in a single morning, recorded from schools. "Abuse is not hidden away in a little corner and it is not hard to find," said Maldita.es cofounder and chief executive Clara Jimenez Cruz. The foundation said the material it found is "material you would expect to find only on the dark web", and that when its findings were published on Monday, TikTok had removed just one-tenth of the content it had flagged and had blocked only a quarter of illegal posts in Spain. Of the 231 profiles that posted explicit material, 136 — 59% — were still active on October 15, when the research period ended.

The move lands days after the European Union told TikTok to change the 'harmful' design of its personalised For You feed or risk large fines under the bloc's digital rules. Read: EU orders TikTok to change its For You feed design

What is solid

  • Rego met TikTok's Spain representatives on Tuesday, urged a voluntary suspension and confirmed the government has asked the data protection agency for a temporary suspension — Al Jazeera
  • The ministry had already sent its report to the State Prosecutor's Office on Monday asking for intervention — Democrata, from the ministry
  • Maldita.es's counts (231 profiles, 1,183 explicit items, about 48 million views, only 5 of 50 reported videos fully removed) are the foundation's own published findings

What is only claimed

  • Whether Spain can lawfully suspend TikTok at all: under EU data protection rules the data protection agency can impose temporary measures for up to three months if it deems urgent action necessary, but Spanish legal analysis cited by Democrata notes the general services law does not give a ministry a general power to close a social network — and TikTok serves the EU through a company established in Ireland
  • TikTok's position: the company is facing a wave of lawsuits and investigations over accusations it has failed to protect minors, accusations it has denied; at Tuesday's meeting it offered no commitments beyond studying the findings

Background: Spain's move is the sharpest national step yet in Europe's widening fight with TikTok over child safety. On Friday the European Union told TikTok to change the "harmful" design of its personalised For You feed or risk large fines under the bloc's digital content rules, and the platform faces lawsuits and investigations in several countries over accusations that it has failed to protect minors — accusations it has denied.

What happens next: the decision now sits with Spain's data protection agency, which can impose temporary measures for up to three months under EU rules if it finds urgent action is necessary to protect citizens. The prosecutor's office is separately considering the ministry's report, and Maldita.es says it will release additional findings in the coming days.