Mexico's president issues decree ordering platforms to shield minors from harmful content

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has signed a decree requiring social media and other platforms that let users create and share content to protect minors from adult and other harmful material, the government announced. The mandatory measures must be put in place within 30 calendar days. The approach is unusual because the rules were introduced by presidential decree rather than through new legislation.

What the rules require

Minors must be kept from accessing several types of content: hate speech, violent extremism, sexual abuse and exploitation, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, school violence, harassment, cyberbullying, unlawful conduct and explicit sexual material.

Platforms must identify and remove accounts or content that promote violence. They must provide age classifications for content, offer parental supervision and reporting tools, and apply stronger privacy and safety settings for younger users. Companies must also keep a point of contact available around the clock for investigating authorities, preserve evidence, and alert authorities when content that threatens life is identified.

Oversight and next steps

Compliance will be overseen by Mexico's Agency for Digital Transformation and Telecommunications (ADTT). Although the decree is obligatory, it will initially carry no punishment. The government has said it will pursue further legislation if companies fail to follow the rules.

Mexico is not the first country to adopt digital child protection measures. Similar rules of various kinds exist in Australia, Europe and China, as well as in the US states of Florida, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas. Australia's under-16 social media ban ran into early problems when minors found ways around platforms' age-verification tools.

Mexico had earlier considered an eight percent tax on violent video games, but Sheinbaum later dropped the idea.