The Spanish government is considering suspending TikTok's services in Spain after investigators documented more than 1,000 videos of child sexual abuse on the platform, drawing over 48 million views. The threat marks the most aggressive regulatory move yet against the Chinese-owned app in a European Union member state.

The Ministry of Youth and Children disclosed the option on Monday, saying the government could paralyse the platform's operations if it deems such a step "opportune". The ministry had already sent a letter to the State Attorney General's Office requesting the Prosecutor's Office to "act", citing "the lack of effective mechanisms on the social network to prevent the dissemination of said material".

What did the investigation actually find?

The evidence comes from the Maldita.es Foundation, a Spanish non-profit that monitors information integrity and platform accountability. Its third investigation into TikTok's alleged inaction on child sexual abuse material identifies more than 20,000 profiles of potential pedophiles, of which over 7,000 operate in Spanish. The networks it documents stretch across Spain, Latin Africa, the rest of Europe and Southeast Asia.

The report, titled "TikTok, the home of the pedophile", breaks the findings into specific categories that regulators will now have to confront:

• 780 accounts using the platform to attract buyers of child sexual abuse material;
• 91 live broadcasts featuring minors across 17 countries, where users request actions, sometimes sexual, in exchange for money;
• A community of more than 2,000 members seeking what the researchers describe as "baby content".

For platform executives, the most damaging claim concerns the machinery of the product itself. Maldita.es denounces TikTok's search engine as "an unfiltered tool for a pedophile", arguing that it works together with the recommendation algorithm to surface abusive content. During the investigation, researchers say they witnessed the rape of a baby broadcast live.

How did the researchers gather the evidence?

The editorial team behind the report navigated the platform, in their words, thinking like a pedophile. They deliberately trained the algorithm to recommend abusive content, entered live streams made by minors, and followed sellers of child sexual abuse material to Telegram and Zangi.

Their conclusion goes to the core of TikTok's defence that abuse hides in isolated corners. "The result shows that the abuse is not hiding in a corner, but is supported by TikTok's own tools," the researchers stated. "It is TikTok's own search engine and its recommendation algorithms that take you to explicit child sexual abuse material."

That framing matters for lawyers. If discovery and amplification run through product features rather than user evasion, the ministry argues, the facts could constitute a violation of children's rights by the platform itself.

What does Madrid want from TikTok now?

Minister of Youth and Children Sira Rego has requested an urgent meeting with TikTok's representatives in Spain. The purpose, according to her office: "to learn about TikTok's explanations, as well as the measures adopted and the immediate actions planned to guarantee the protection of children and adolescents on its platform."

The ministry classifies the documented facts as "extremely serious" and says they "require an immediate response and coordinated by all the competent administrations, both at national and European level". In its assessment, the investigation exposes serious deficiencies in content detection and moderation mechanisms, and equally serious problems in how TikTok's recommendation systems disseminate the material.

What changes for platform operators?

For practitioners watching from compliance and trust-and-safety desks, the Spanish case reframes the exposure. Regulators are no longer treating abusive content primarily as a moderation failure; they are examining whether search and recommendation tools actively enable it. A platform facing suspension in a national market — rather than a fine — signals that EU enforcement patience has shortened.

The coordinated national-and-European response the ministry demands suggests the next steps will involve Brussels as much as Madrid. TikTok now faces a narrow window to present concrete measures before the government decides whether suspending its Spanish operations qualifies as "opportune".