TikTok is at the center of a new controversy over the protection of minors on the internet after a journalistic investigation revealed the spread of more than a thousand posts containing child sexual abuse material on the platform. The report, published this Monday, November 9, by Maldita.es, documents the presence of images and videos of the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents that have accumulated millions of views, as well as significant deficiencies in the systems for detecting and removing this content. The seriousness of the findings has prompted a reaction from the Spanish government, which has brought the facts to the attention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Ministry of Youth and Childhood, led by Sira Rego, has asked the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate what happened and adopt the measures necessary to protect the minors affected. The department has gone one step further by raising the possibility of suspending TikTok’s services in Spain if the competent authorities consider it necessary. The minister has also requested an urgent meeting with the company’s representatives to find out what protection mechanisms it uses and what actions it plans to take.
The controversy raises several questions: what exactly has been discovered, how these contents managed to spread, why TikTok has not removed them, what responsibility the company may have, and whether it could really end up being shut down in Spain. These are the main points of a case that once again places the safety of minors and the operation of the social networks’ algorithms under the scrutiny of the authorities.
What happened on TikTok: more than 1,100 publications of child sexual abuse
The source of the controversy is an investigation by Maldita.es carried out over 35 days, between September 11 and October 15, 2026. During that period, the investigators located 231 profiles that had shared 1,183 posts with explicit child sexual abuse material, according to the count included in the information about the report. Taken together, this content had accumulated approximately 48 million views.
The investigation found that some publications had been available for months without being removed, despite the fact that TikTok’s rules expressly prohibit any content related to the sexual exploitation of minors. One of the identified videos had been posted for more than four months and remained accessible during the data collection.
Another of the most relevant findings affects the accounts responsible for its spread. As of October 15, 136 of the 231 profiles analyzed, 59%, remained active, which raises doubts about the platform’s ability to identify and block users who share this type of material.
In addition, the problem is not limited to isolated posts. The investigation also identified user networks that use TikTok to make contact with people interested in acquiring or exchanging child sexual abuse material, as well as comments in which new recordings were requested. In some cases, the platform functioned as a shop window to attract buyers to external messaging services, where the files were allegedly traded.
The researchers also detected communities of users who exchanged messages related to this content and profiles that took advantage of the social network’s features to promote it. The findings show a problem that, according to Maldita.es, is not confined to a small number of videos, but also affects the functioning of the search, recommendation and moderation systems.
The 48 million views do not necessarily equate to 48 million different people, since the same publication can be played multiple times by the same user. They also do not represent the entirety of the child sexual abuse material that could exist on TikTok, but only what was identified during the period investigated.
Why TikTok is being questioned: it only removed five of the 50 reported videos
One of the main conclusions of the investigation refers to TikTok’s response when it receives reports about content related to sexual abuse of minors. To check the effectiveness of its control mechanisms, Maldita.es selected a sample of 50 videos and reported them through the platform’s official tools, identifying them as illegal content.
After completing the reporting and complaint procedures, TikTok communicated the removal of five videos, equivalent to 10% of the sample, while another 13 were blocked only for users located in Spain. In 29 cases, the platform considered that the posts did not violate its rules or the applicable legislation, and the remaining three were pending review or received no response.
The situation is especially relevant because the 50 reported videos accumulated 8.8 million views and more than 148,000 "likes". Some had reached very high playback figures and continued to be linked to profiles that published similar content.
Maldita.es also checked what had happened after filing the reports. After 72 hours, 12 of the 50 videos remained available and 18 of the 47 related accounts remained active. In some cases, the platform had removed or blocked a specific post, but it had not suspended the profile responsible for disseminating it.
The investigation also detected discrepancies between the decisions communicated by TikTok and the subsequent removals. Part of the content that had initially been considered non-violating disappeared from the platform during the following hours, making it difficult to determine why it was not identified as problematic from the first review.
According to Maldita.es, TikTok requested additional information when the organization was contacted, but it had not provided a substantive response regarding its child-protection mechanisms and the moderation failures detected at the time the investigation was published.
What Sira Rego has done and why the Government is proposing to suspend TikTok
The publication of these findings has prompted the intervention of the Ministry of Youth and Childhood, which considers that the documented facts are of "extreme gravity" and require immediate action by the institutions responsible for protecting minors.
According to sources from the department, the ministry has sent a written submission to the Public Prosecutor's Office to make it aware of the information published by Maldita.es and to request that, in the exercise of its powers, it examine possible responsibilities and adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the comprehensive protection of the children and adolescents affected.
The request includes an especially relevant possibility: to paralyze TikTok services in Spain if the competent authorities consider it appropriate. The approach responds to the Government’s concern about the dissemination of illegal material and about possible shortcomings in the mechanisms intended to prevent these contents from continuing to circulate.
At the same time, Sira Rego has requested an urgent meeting with representatives of TikTok in Spain. The minister wants to hear the company’s explanations about what happened, check what actions have been carried out so far, and demand information about the immediate measures planned to protect minors.
The department also puts the spotlight on the role of recommendation algorithms and on moderation systems. In the ministry’s view, the documented events could reflect serious deficiencies in the detection and removal of illegal content, in addition to a possible violation of children’s rights by the platform.
However, the petition to the Public Prosecutor’s Office does not mean that TikTok has been suspended or that there is a closure order. It is an institutional request for the facts to be investigated and for the possible actions to be assessed within the legal framework.
What constitutes child sexual abuse material and how it spreads on social networks
The term child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is used to identify images, videos, and other files that depict situations of sexual abuse or exploitation of minors. Unlike other expressions used historically, this wording highlights that the content documents or represents a form of violence against children and adolescents.
Its production, distribution, and dissemination may constitute serious crimes. In Spain, Article 189 of the Criminal Code punishes different conduct related to child pornography, including its creation, commercialization, offering, and distribution, among other scenarios provided for by legislation.
In the case investigated by Maldita.es, some accounts used seemingly ordinary posts to draw attention toward illegal content, while others included fragments of abuse material. The investigators also identified profiles that directed their followers to external messaging platforms, where the exchange or sale of these files was allegedly organized.
One of the main problems is that the circulation of these images prolongs the harm suffered by the victims, who can see how the material continues to be reproduced and shared even years after the original abuse.
For this reason, the authorities not only seek to identify and prosecute the people responsible for producing or distributing this content, but also to get digital platforms to detect it, remove it, and prevent it from being disseminated again.
What role has the TikTok algorithm played in the spread of the content
The investigation also questions the operation of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, responsible for selecting a good part of the videos that appear in the “For you” section.
This system analyzes different interaction signals to determine which posts it can show to each user. When a person views certain content or interacts with it, the platform can recommend other similar content to them, even if it comes from accounts they do not follow.
According to Maldita.es, the recommendation system itself made it possible to locate new related accounts and posts involving child sexual abuse material during the investigation. The investigators consider that this mechanism may have helped expand its dissemination, especially taking into account the high number of views reached by some posts.
However, the number of views does not on its own allow it to be proven how many were generated directly by the algorithm. To determine its exact contribution, it would be necessary to access internal information about the recommendations and the sources of video traffic.
This issue is especially relevant because large platforms have European obligations to assess and reduce the risks arising from the design and operation of their services.
In fact, the European Commission announced on 6 November last year preliminary conclusions about possible TikTok non-compliance related to its recommendation system. Brussels considers that certain characteristics of the algorithm may encourage repeated exposure to harmful content, especially among vulnerable users and minors.
However, it is a different European investigation from the facts now reported by Maldita.es. Brussels’ actions focus on the risks associated with the general functioning of the recommendation system and do not constitute a resolution on the child sexual abuse contents identified in this investigation.
Can TikTok be shut down in Spain due to sexual abuse of minors?
The possibility of suspending TikTok is one of the issues that has drawn the most attention after the announcement by the Ministry of Youth and Childhood. Spanish legislation provides mechanisms to halt certain digital services when it is necessary to protect fundamental rights or especially relevant interests, including the protection of minors.
The article 8 of Law 34/2002, on Information Society Services and Electronic Commerce, allows the competent bodies to adopt measures to remove content or interrupt services when there are legally provided grounds. However, these actions must comply with the requirements of necessity, proportionality, and protection of fundamental rights.
This means that the Government cannot unilaterally order the immediate closure of TikTok based on a simple political decision. A general restriction would have to be legally justified, agreed by the competent authority, and include judicial involvement when it is legally required.
The European Union also provides for measures against platforms that fail to meet their user protection obligations. The Digital Services Regulation allows corrective actions to be required and to impose fines of up to 6% of a company’s worldwide annual turnover, while the temporary limitation of access is reserved for exceptional circumstances.
Therefore, the removal of illegal videos, the blocking of accounts, and the complete suspension of the social network are different measures. The possible closure of TikTok would be a last-resort action, not an automatic consequence of the complaint submitted by the ministry.
What could happen now: the Public Prosecutor’s Office, TikTok, and European authorities
The next steps will depend on the actions that the competent institutions decide to take. On the one hand, the Prosecutor’s Office must examine the documentation submitted by Juventud e Infancia and assess whether it is appropriate to urge criminal investigations or request measures aimed at protecting the victims and preventing the continuation of possible crimes.
On the other hand, the urgent meeting requested by Sira Rego is intended to obtain explanations from TikTok and to know what changes it will introduce in its mechanisms for detecting, moderating, and removing content related to sexual abuse of minors.
European authorities may also intervene if there are indications of noncompliance with the obligations established by the Digital Services Regulation, especially in terms of risk management and protection for the most vulnerable users.
The investigation by Maldita.es has already been referred to the Prosecutor’s Office by the organization itself, which has retained documentation and evidence to facilitate its review. However, it is still pending to determine whether the documented failures can be translated into specific responsibilities of the platform, both from a criminal and a regulatory standpoint.
For now, TikTok continues to operate in Spain and no suspension of its services has been announced. The action by the Ministry of Youth and Childhood opens a new front regarding the responsibility of major digital platforms for the circulation of child sexual abuse material, while the authorities must clarify the scope of the events, the necessary protection measures, and the possible consequences for the company.