The Government of Spain moves forward on protecting digital rights and creating a media registry

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Minister for Equality, Ana Redondo, the Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, and the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers (Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez)

The Council of Ministers has analysed the draft bill for the improvement of democratic governance in digital services and media, which will bring Spanish legislation into line with European legislation in this area, specifically the European Digital Services Regulation and the European Regulation on Freedom of the Media. The future regulation is part of the Government's actions included in the Action Plan for Democracy.

The Minister for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, Óscar López, has announced that the Government will soon adapt the European directive on the regulation of artificial intelligence to complete a "paradigm of protection not only of fundamental rights, as established in the Constitution, but also of digital rights".

In this respect, Óscar López recalled that Spain was the first country to approve a Charter of Digital Rights, which inspired Europe to draw up the European Charter of Digital Rights.

Secure digital space

The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez

According to the minister, the future law designates the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) as the coordinating body for digital services, for which it will strengthen its powers of control, supervision, inspection and sanction over digital platforms.

The minister said that the CNMC will ensure that digital service providers comply with the law, for example, by obliging them to have a channel for users to report illegal content. They will also be required to be transparent about the algorithm's recommendation criteria and about the advertising on their platforms. The rule will also ensure that the gateway to any digital service is understandable to the user and does not lead to manipulation or deception. It will protect consumers when they enter into online contracts and combat disinformation and high-risk practices, such as electoral manipulation and the use of artificial intelligence to impersonate a person's identity.

In this context, the minister recalled that the European regulation on artificial intelligence already obliges audio and video creators to identify AI-generated content as such if it is "deepfake" in nature.

Public media register

Óscar López has also anticipated the creation of a state register of media outlets to advance in transparency regarding their ownership, their sources of funding, and the institutional advertising they receive. The media must keep this information updated in the register, which will depend on the National Commission for Markets and Competition.

The future regulation, concluded the minister, "reinforces the rights of all citizens and even more so in a context such as the current one, where we have seen setbacks, for example, in the verification system, in social networks, and in the media".

Progress against male violence and gender gaps

The Minister for Equality, Ana Redondo, during her speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez

At its meeting, the Council of Ministers discussed the report "More rights, more feminism, more democracy: a year of progress in equality", which sets out the measures taken by the Government and the progress achieved. The Minister for Equality, Ana Redondo, reiterated the Government's commitment in this area and defended the fact that the report reflects the Government's priorities in the fight against all inequalities and discrimination.

Combating sex-based violence

Ana Redondo highlighted the positive evolution of the fight against gender violence, starting from the Law on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence, which recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary. A total of 74 women were killed in 2003, while 48 were killed in 2024. "Every murder of a woman is a collective failure and challenges us as a democracy, although it is also important to rescue hope," she said.

Among the measures adopted in the last year, the minister pointed out the implementation of the VioGén 2 system, which improves coordination in the integral monitoring of cases of gender violence. She also highlighted the forthcoming approval in the Lower House of Parliament of the renewal of the State Pact against Gender Violence, incorporating 461 new measures, which is expected to achieve a very broad consensus.

In terms of progress in the fight against sexual violence, the Minister for Equality referred to the extension of victims' economic rights, the increase in the number of support and information points for victims (known as Puntos Violeta), and the opening of 54 crisis centres that operate 24 hours a day. With regard to these centres, implemented within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, a joint and common minimum portfolio of services should be established this year throughout the national territory.

Reducing gender gaps

Reducing gender gaps is another priority of the Executive. Ana Redondo pointed out that the final report of the European Union Equality Observatory places Spain in fourth place in the equality index with 76.7 points, compared to the European average of 71. "Narrowing the labour and pay gaps is good for the economy, and that's what the 2024 results say," she said.

In particular, the pay gap between men and women is narrowing thanks to measures such as the increase of the Interprofessional Minimum Wage -60% of recipients are women- the increase in pensions, paid paternity and maternity leave, and the equality plans required of companies. In 2024, the record number of women contributors was reached- over 10 million- and the pay gap fell by 6.8 points.

With regard to the "representation gap", the minister acknowledged that it is still "very present" in companies, both in large listed companies and in small and medium-sized ones. For this reason, the Government will put "special emphasis" on the Parity Law that was passed in 2024 and must be implemented this year. A positive development in this area is that 157 companies now have the equality label.

Redondo said that the Government is also particularly concerned about the care gap, which cuts short the careers of many women. Among the initiatives developed to prevent this discrimination, the minister mentioned the Co-Responsibilities Plan, with a budget of more than €190 million in 2024, which has enabled the implementation of more than 2,000 projects related to work-life balance and care in the last three years.

Last, the Minister for Equality stressed the Executive's desire to lead not only equality policies, but also a "global alliance" against the denial of gender violence that demonstrates that equality policies are not only profitable socially and democratically, but also from an economic point of view.

Strengthening consumer protection with class actions

The Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, during her speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez

The Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, has reported that the Council of Ministers has approved the referral to Parliament of the draft law on collective actions for the protection and defence of the rights and interests of consumers and users.

As Alegría explained, this is a reform promoted by the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations with Parliament and the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, with the aim of "strengthening consumer protection" through collective actions.

To this end, the new regulation will allow claims against a natural or legal person to be made, collectively, through an entity legally empowered to defend the rights of consumers and users. "We are talking about consumer associations and state, regional and local government bodies," the minister pointed out.

Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and international assistance

The government spokesperson also stressed that the Council of Ministers had approved the referral to Parliament of the agreement for the signing of Protocol 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which allows the High Courts of the member states to request the European Court of Human Rights to issue consultations and opinions.

"This will strengthen the dialogue between Spanish and European justice, and will also help us to advance in our commitment to the protection of human rights as the backbone of our foreign policy," said Alegría.

Also in the area of Foreign Affairs, the Council of Ministers approved the distribution of €34 million to international organisations and programmes, among which the minister mentioned the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UNHCR and the United Nations.

Health care for civil servants abroad

During his speech at the press conference, the head of Digital Transformation and Civil Service underlined that the entity Nueva Mutua Sanitaria has been proposed as the successful bidder to provide MUFACE healthcare to more than 8,000 civil servants posted abroad.

Non official translation