Sheinbaum Presents Draft Decree to Force Digital Platforms to Take Down Content That Incites Violence and Hate

ByAlonso Urrutia and Arturo Sánchez

This article by Alonso Urrutia and Arturo Sánchez originally appeared in the October 9, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. The federal government presented the draft decree that seeks to guarantee safe digital environments for children and adolescents, under which digital platforms will be obligated to take down content that incites violence with hate speech and violent extremism; sexual abuse, exploitation or violence; suicide, deliberate self-harm and eating disorders, among other aspects.

President Claudia Sheinbaum asserted that the platforms will be obligated to take down this content and report to the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection and the National Guard when they identify this type of violent content. However, she specified that for now there is no intention to incorporate sanctions for companies that fail to comply with these obligations because no one can be against not disseminating sexual abuse or violent content.

Sheinbaum mentioned that this decree will be published next week to allow a few days to talk with the representatives of the companies to discuss the scope of this decree. Nevertheless, she emphasized that this is a mandatory decree because we cannot allow platforms not to be safe spaces for children and adolescents.

However, the president considered it very important that this decree take effect as soon as possible, specifying that it was a commitment she made to society after the attack at a school in Coahuila.

She noted that there have been meetings with experts and members of the security cabinet as well as authorities from the Secretariat of Public Education and the Secretariat of Health to fine-tune this decree.

In this regard, the head of the Digital Transformation Agency, José Antonio Peña Merino, said that the platforms already have many security mechanisms in force to remove violent or sexual abuse content. It is a matter of fine-tuning these types of policies and speeding up reporting to the security authorities.

The president explained that the decree would be published between Tuesday and Wednesday and that a working group will be formed to analyze whether it is necessary to go further and draft legal reforms.