Who controls what on the internet: the battle for the labeling of digital content

The Government has intensified its commitment to strengthen security in digital environments, with initiatives such as the Draft Law on the protection of minors online, within whose framework it plans to introduce restrictions on minors' access to social networks. In parallel, content labeling on the internet has consolidated as one of the central axes of the regulatory debate, driven by the ongoing review of regulations at both national and European levels.

Initiatives like the Digital Services Regulation of the European Union —Digital Services Act— have introduced new obligations for platforms regarding content management, risk assessment, and user protection, while, simultaneously, proposals focused on age verification and parental control are advancing.

With this scenario as a backdrop, the Spanish Association for Digitalization, DigitalES, which brings together leading companies in telecommunications, technology, and digital transformation, maintains that the responsibility must fall on digital platforms.

Key actors

In their view, digital platforms are the only actors with effective control over the publication, classification and presentation of content. “Any obligation related to age rating, labeling or descriptors must clearly fall on them, and not on actors without direct intervention capacity, such as telecommunications operators or device manufacturers,” they point out from DigitalES to Demócrata.

The digital platforms are the only actors with effective control over the publication, classification, and presentation of the content

The discussion is not minor, since labeling is emerging as an essential piece for other regulatory tools to function correctly. According to DigitalES, the effectiveness of systems such as age verification or parental controls depends on the existence of a “reliable and consistent” content classification model. Hence, the employers' association demands a homogeneous, clear and visible system, standardized and understandable for both minors and their families, and consistently present across all digital devices and services.

Furthermore, the organization emphasizes that labeling should not be limited to a simple indication of recommended age. They consider it necessary to incorporate descriptors that inform about the nature of the content —violence, sex, language, or risky behaviors— with the aim of reinforcing transparency. This approach aligns with practices already consolidated in other areas, which leads the employers' association to ask that the digital system align with existing standards in the audiovisual sector, thus avoiding fragmentation and improving the user experience.

The positioning of DigitalES is ultimately inserted at a time of redefinition of the rules of the digital environment, in which the distribution of responsibilities among platforms, operators and manufacturers, as well as the technical specification of measures such as labeling, will mark the real effectiveness of public policies regarding user protection.

AI Contents, under scrutiny

The Artificial Intelligence Regulation will require from August 2026 to clearly identify all content generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence. The rule will require that texts, images, videos or audios include visible notices about their artificial origin, as well as technical mechanisms that allow their automated detection, with the aim of reinforcing transparency and preventing deception.

The obligation, included in article 50, will especially affect sectors such as the media, entertainment, digital marketing or technological platforms, although it will not be absolute: it will only apply when the intervention of AI is substantial and can mislead about the authenticity of the content.

Non-compliance may entail sanctions of up to 15 million euros or 3% of global turnover —and even more in the most serious cases—, under the supervision in Spain of the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence.

From content tags to product tags

As important as the correct and transparent labeling of content on the internet is that of products that allow access to the network. In this sense, the Draft Law on the protection of minors in digital environments, which is undergoing parliamentary processing pending the constitution of a committee, includes the obligation for manufacturers of smartphones, tablets, computers, digital televisions, and other devices with network connection to inform on their labels of the risks derived from access to content harmful to the health and physical, mental, and moral development of minors. It should be visible on the packaging and in the instruction manual.

Manufacturers are very reluctant to the measure for two reasons. Firstly, because they consider that it generates legal uncertainty, since each manufacturer would indicate different information, among other things, because elements such as recommendation times are beyond their control and there is no scientific consensus, as they depend on individual factors. On the other hand, they argue that it would increase the use of paper (manuals and labels) and ink.

As an alternative, the sector proposes to the parliamentary groups that the information can be integrated into the website or in an easily accessible digital format , in addition to the authorities and public bodies being the ones to design a label with standardized information so that it is uniform, regardless of the manufacturer.

In an interview with Demócrata, the Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, explains that the Government is digesting all the amendments and that the decision could be executed through a subsequent regulatory development.