Uruguay and Peru Push Social Media Rules

Uruguay, Peru, Colombia and Mexico are all showing an active legislative agenda this week on social media, cybercrime and artificial intelligence. In Uruguay, Felipe Schipani introduced a bill to prohibit access to social media for children under 15 and establish a reinforced protection regime for adolescents ages 15 to 17. In Peru, Bill 14760/2025-CR remains in committee and seeks to amend Law 30096 to punish the illicit use of AI in cybercrimes. In Colombia, a similar initiative on digital platforms is still awaiting a report for its first debate, while in Mexico the Chamber of Deputies has accumulated pending bills in the justice committee on cyber offenses and AI.

What does Schipani’s Uruguayan bill propose?

Felipe Schipani’s bill in Uruguay seeks to prohibit access to social media for children under 15 and, in addition, impose specific obligations on platforms to protect personal data and reduce risks for adolescents. The proposal establishes a reinforced regime for those between 15 and 17.

The obligations included in the text call for maximum privacy by default, blocking contact with unknown adults, disabling public geolocation, limiting nighttime notifications, and banning advertising based on profiling personal data. Coverage from Montevideo Portal added that the advertising ban also extends to all minors under 18 when the issue is behavioral profiling based advertising.

The text also requires platforms to use reasonable, effective and auditable age verification mechanisms, publish semiannual reports on suspended accounts, error rates and complaints, and defines a social network service as a platform with profiles, posts, interaction and algorithmic recommendations. Educational, health, private messaging, digital library, scientific repository and child-focused platforms with reinforced safety are excluded. The duty to verify age falls exclusively on providers, and neither minors nor parents or guardians can be penalized for noncompliance.

Who would enforce the law in Uruguay?

The designated enforcement authority is Agesic, working in coordination with the Personal Data Regulatory and Control Unit, the Ministry of Public Health, the Uruguayan Institute for Children and Adolescents and the National Administration of Public Education. The bill also foresees administrative sanctions for platforms, including warnings, orders to make changes and fines of up to 20,000 reajustable units.

Coverage from Carmelo Portal reported that the initiative was presented on August 11, 2026. Under this design, the regulatory focus falls directly on platform providers rather than on minor users or their families.

What changes in Peru with Bill 14760/2025-CR?

In Peru, Bill 14760/2025-CR seeks to strengthen the fight against cybercrime by regulating the illicit use of artificial intelligence and protecting digital identity. The text is moving through the Congress of the Republic and is listed as "In Committee" in the legislative record.

The proposal would amend Law 30096 to punish the illicit use of AI in cybercrimes. It also defines concepts such as "synthetic content" and "sufficient verisimilitude," adds aggravating factors for the use of AI in identity theft, criminalizes the design and distribution of AI tools for criminal purposes, and creates an autonomous offense for the nonconsensual creation or dissemination of synthetic content.

The academic source consulted added that the bill would require digital platforms to remove illicit content within 48 hours, creating a concrete operational burden for intermediaries. That same source places the initiative within a broader legislative agenda in Peru, alongside other pending bills on digital sexual violence, governance and transparency in AI.

What is happening in Colombia and Mexico?

In Colombia, Bill PL 083/2026C, which regulates social media platforms and issues other provisions, remains in process in the House of Representatives and is awaiting the publication of a report for its first debate, according to legislative tracking by the University of the Andes.

In Mexico, recent coverage by Excélsior reported that the Chamber of Deputies has pending legislation on cybercrimes and the misuse of artificial intelligence, with decree proposals received by the Justice Committee to regulate cyber offenses and AI in illicit acts. At the same time, a regional comparative analysis by IAGovernance noted that since March 2025 the country has had a new Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties and a General Law on Protection of Personal Data Held by Public Entities, although there is still no specific approved artificial intelligence framework.