Mexico’s proposed child-safety decree would require a broad range of internet services to control what minors can see, remove accounts or content promoting violence, and respond to government investigators. President Claudia Sheinbaum said the rules will be mandatory once published, though the decree sets no penalties for now and could still change after legal review and talks with platforms.
The Government’s New Requirements
Presented on Friday 9 October 2026, the decree covers any internet service where users interact, communicate, create or share content. That definition includes U.S.-owned social networks and video sites, although the text names no company and officials haven’t said which agency would check compliance.
Platforms would have to keep minors from seeing or being recommended content promoting hate speech, violent extremism, sexual abuse, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, school violence, harassment, cyberbullying, illegal conduct or sexually explicit material. They’d also need to design services with children in mind and set the most protective privacy and safety settings by default.
The rules call for age-based content classification, parental and guardian supervision tools, and ways to report violent users or posts. Platforms must identify and immediately remove accounts or content that promote violence. They must also maintain a 24-hour contact point for investigators, preserve and hand over evidence, and immediately alert authorities to content that threatens a life.
Luisa María Alcalde, the Consejera Jurídica, or legal counsel to the presidency, presented the text at Sheinbaum’s morning press conference. Alcalde took office in May after officials named her in an April reshuffle. She previously led Morena, the left-wing governing party founded by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Mandatory Rules, Unsettled Penalties
“In this case it is a decree, it is mandatory,” Sheinbaum said, according to Canal Once, a Mexican public broadcaster. She said the rules must take effect when Mexico publishes them in its official gazette, the Diario Oficial de la Federación. Publication was expected on Tuesday 13 or Wednesday 14 October 2026.
Canal Once reported that the text contains no sanctions for now. Sheinbaum said the government would move to a law if platforms don’t comply, according to UnoTV, a Mexican news site. She also said the aim is for platforms to sign up voluntarily, Político MX reported, adding that later regulation could include sanctions.
The decree directs the legal counsel’s office to establish a working group to propose further regulation. José Merino, head of the Digital Transformation Agency, said platforms already remove some harmful content, according to UnoTV. He said a recent meeting stressed widening the range of content they identify and remove.
Trade Rules and the Torreón Attack
The decree follows an attack on Thursday 1 October at Secondary School No. 13 in Torreón, Coahuila. Twin brothers who were former pupils attacked with knives, axes and machetes, Político MX reported. The deputy head died, and four people were injured, according to El Informador, a Guadalajara daily. The twins have since faced formal charges, Político MX reported. The next day, Sheinbaum established a working group led by her legal office to draft a platform decree.
Mexico and the United States are reviewing the USMCA, the 2020 trade pact that also includes Canada. Its digital trade chapter bars members from treating a platform as the author of users’ posts when determining liability for harm. It also shields platforms from liability when they remove in good faith material they consider harmful or objectionable. The chapter permits measures needed to protect public morals and names curbs on the online sexual exploitation of children as an example.
No one knows whether Meta, Google, TikTok and X will change their Mexican services or when a law with penalties might reach Congress. If platforms comply, families could see stricter default privacy settings and new parental controls, while adult users may see faster removal of posts and accounts promoting violence. Línea de la Vida, 800-911-2000, offers psychological guidance and support to minors and their parents or guardians.