At a government forum on “hate speech” in Madrid, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez introduced a new digital project with a blunt name: HODIO. The acronym stands for Huella del Odio y la Polarización, translated as the Footprint of Hatred and Polarization.
The plan is like a scoreboard for social media speech. A government system will monitor platforms, count what officials classify as hate speech, and release public rankings twice a year.
The prime minister made clear that the rankings are meant to apply pressure.
“We will publicly display the results so that everyone knows who stops hate, who looks away, and who makes a business out of hate,” Sánchez said.
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In short, the Spanish government will measure how much objectionable speech appears on major platforms, rate each company, and publish the results for public scrutiny.
The system will run through OBERAXE, the Spanish Observatory against Racism and Xenophobia, a government body tasked with monitoring discrimination. OBERAXE will apply “recognized academic criteria,” according to Sánchez, to track the spread of hate speech online.
Of course, the government defines what qualifies as hate speech. The same government then measures its presence across platforms. The numbers will become the basis for public rankings.
Those rankings arrive with clear consequences. Platforms that perform poorly can expect public criticism, regulatory attention, and the possibility of legal pressure. Sánchez framed the process as a method of accountability.
“From now, I think social media must be held publicly accountable for every piece of hate content they allow,” he said.
HODIO enters a system that already exists. Sánchez described a coordination mechanism launched in July 2025 between the Spanish government and major technology companies, including Meta, X, Google, and TikTok.
Representatives from the companies meet with officials each quarter. The meetings review examples of content that the government classifies as hate speech and discuss how platforms can remove more of it.
According to Sánchez, the effort has already produced results. Platforms were deleting 22 percent of flagged content several months ago. The number now stands at 51 percent.
He described that improvement as progress. He also called it insufficient.
HODIO appears designed to push the number further upward. Public rankings can add a layer of pressure that private meetings lack.
Sánchez used the forum to criticize anonymous speech online. He argued that social networks have lowered the barrier for hostility.
Platforms have “reduced the cost of hating…because just one click is enough, almost always, from the cowardly anonymity that reinforces impunity and aggressiveness,” he said.
The remark places anonymity in the center of the debate. Anonymous speech has long served whistleblowers, dissidents, and activists who face retaliation. In Sánchez’s framing, it serves aggressors who hide behind a screen.
The difference in perspective reflects a broader policy direction. Governments across Europe are exploring identification requirements or age verification systems tied to social media accounts.
HODIO is one piece of a broader set of proposals Sánchez highlighted during the forum.
The Spanish government is pushing measures that include criminal liability for platform executives when illegal content appears on their services. Another proposal targets algorithmic systems that promote or recommend prohibited material.
Sánchez also reiterated support for age verification rules that would prevent users under sixteen from accessing social networks.
One item drew particular attention. The government is working with Spain’s public prosecutor to pursue what Sánchez described as “infringements committed by Grok, TikTok and Instagram.”
The same government that defines hate speech will monitor it, measure it, and issue public ratings of companies based on compliance. Content can disappear from platforms before courts review the decision.
Sánchez attempted to address the criticism during his speech.
“We are not talking about those who say that we intend to censor,” he said. “We are not talking about uncomfortable opinions. On the contrary. We are talking about messages that, for example, compare people with plagues. Dehumanization again. That justify violence against women or that celebrate aggressions against women. Dehumanization again.”
He argued that tech leaders abandoned that understanding when they “decided to impose their political agenda on social networks.”
The claim arrived in a speech announcing a government program that monitors speech, scores companies based on removal rates, and coordinates with prosecutors investigating specific platforms.
The HODIO reports will appear every six months. Each edition will rank the major platforms based on how much hate speech the system detects.
For the companies involved, the incentive structure is clear: censor or else.
