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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has signed a decree ordering social media and streaming companies like TikTok, Meta and X to keep violent, sexual and other harmful content away from kids and teens.
Getting into it: The decree, signed Wednesday, gives platforms 30 days to comply. It bans companies from exposing minors to content promoting hate speech, violent extremism, sexual abuse, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, school violence and cyberbullying. It also requires them to take down accounts and posts that encourage violence, verify users’ ages, rate content by age group and add parental controls and tighter privacy protections for younger users.
Platforms must also keep a 24/7 contact point for investigators and notify authorities whenever they find content that puts someone’s life at risk. The decree is mandatory but carries no penalties for now, with Mexico’s digital transformation agency overseeing compliance.
“If no progress is made, it would become a law,” Sheinbaum said, adding that the government would push for legislation punishing companies that ignore the decree.
The decree follows an attack earlier this month by two 18-year-olds on their former high school in the northern state of Coahuila that killed one person and wounded three. Officials say they met with Meta, Microsoft, Apple, TikTok, Google, X and Huawei before Sheinbaum signed the decree, and that the companies agreed and asked for a month to prepare.
A Meta spokesperson said the company is “aware of the decree” and will “analyze it in detail,” noting it already offers tools that help parents and limit who can contact children. The other companies didn’t respond to requests for comment.
This all comes as governments around the world crack down on tech companies over child safety, including Australia’s under-16 social media ban, new rules in Europe and Brazil and age verification laws in US states like Florida, Texas and Ohio. The push has raised questions about how to protect kids without undermining privacy and free speech.






