The Government of Spain updates the law on the right of rectification to guarantee truthful information

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Minister for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, and the Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and Government Spokesperson, Elma Saiz, after the Council of Ministers (Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez)

The Council of Ministers has referred the draft Organic Law regulating the right of rectification to the Spanish Parliament for its parliamentary processing and has also studied the draft Organic Law on civil protection of the right to honour, to personal and family privacy and to one's own image.

The Minister for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, has stressed that the future laws represent "two milestones of the Action Plan for Democracy approved by the Executive in September 2024". Of the 31 standards contained in the document, 17 are completed and four are in an advanced stage of processing, meaning that 70% of the plan has already been fulfilled.

Right to rectification

The current Organic Law regulating the right of rectification dates back to 1984, so it needs to be adapted to the digital environment. Félix Bolaños pointed out that it is necessary to adjust the regulation to the new existing means of communication, to reinforce the effectiveness of the right and to improve and speed up the judicial procedure that is opened once the right is exercised and the means of communication does not allow for it. "I believe that the frequency and seriousness of the hoaxes and lies that we sometimes suffer is increasing and, therefore, we must tackle this with legislation that adapts to the media ecosystem and the information system," he stressed.

The rule regulating the right to rectification will allow any citizen to rectify information disseminated by any media outlet about facts that allude to them, which they believe to be inaccurate and whose dissemination could be detrimental to them.

What's new in the regulation

The minister has advanced that it will be possible to rectify information disseminated by the media, including digital media, as well as information published by users of special relevance (influencers) on online platforms or social networks. That is, those who have more than 100,000 followers on one social network or more than 200,000 if all their networks are added together. "Habitual misinformers, people who engage in hoaxes on a daily basis, will be affected by this law," the minister remarked, adding that citizens affected by false information spread by "professional hoaxers will also be able to exercise this right, even if they are not a media outlet and are simply people who engage in social networks."

As for the deadline for requesting rectification, it will be increased from 7 to 10 days, except in the case of digital media and users of special relevance, which will be 20 days.

The Justice Minister also pointed out that the obligation to send requests for rectification to the editors of the media has been abolished. Simply send them to the medium for handling and, in the case of online or social media platforms, to the person who exercises effective control over that user or over the information that has been published.

Digital media will have to have a free, easily accessible and clearly visible mechanism for citizens to exercise the right to rectification immediately, and users of particular relevance will also have to inform, in a visible place on their social networks, the means through which it can be exercised.

The Minister for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

Félix Bolaños detailed that the regulation maintains the obligation to publish the rectification within three days, which must be limited to the facts that must be rectified: that they are inaccurate, false or that are not accredited or contrasted. However, he pointed out that "opinions or assessments which are not excessive or irrelevant to the subject of the correction may also be added when they derive from the factual basis of the correction."

The regulation introduces procedural improvements and simplifies and speeds up the judicial procedure. The minister explained that if no agreement is reached between the media outlet and the person affected by the inaccurate information in the extrajudicial exercise of the right, a brief claim can be filed, the written reply to the claim is exempted in order to speed up the procedure and the judge will issue a judgment, even orally.

Update on the protection of honour, privacy and self-image

The Executive has addressed the reform of the civil protection of the right to honour, to personal and family privacy and to one's own image. The preliminary draft of the future organic law now begins the mandatory procedures of reports and contributions before returning to the Council of Ministers.

The Justice Minister pointed out that the current legislation, dating from 1982, is good but has become obsolete in some aspects, so it should be adapted "to the current reality of the media and information ecosystem in our country." Specifically, as Bolaños explained, the reform incorporates the numerous legislative amendments that have taken place at European and national levels, takes into account technological developments and responds to social awareness of the ease with which disinformation and hoaxes are spread.

Improvements in consent and protection of minors

Among the improvements included in the text, the minister highlighted those related to consent. Firstly, the possibility of sharing personal or family images on social networks does not imply absolute freedom to use them in another context. Consent, according to Félix Bolaños, will be limited to the social network to which a given image is uploaded.

Secondly, the regulation strengthens the protection of minors. The age at which they can give their consent to provide their own image is set at 16, in line with the draft law on protection in the digital environment that is currently before Parliament. In any case, such consent does not imply that there can be an intrusion and, furthermore, it must be compatible with there being no interference with the child's right to honour.

The law also regulates the consent of people with disabilities, who will have the legal support established in the Civil Code or the intervention of the Public Prosecution Service. In the case of deceased people, those who can exercise the right on their behalf are extended to include unmarried partners and similar relationships. In addition, individuals may use their will to prohibit the use of their voice or image for commercial or advertising purposes.

Artificial intelligence, freedom of expression and victim protection

The Minister for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, during his speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

In relation to artificial intelligence, the draft considers it unlawful to use a person's voice or image for commercial or advertising purposes without their authorisation. In turn, it protects freedom of expression by allowing such use in the case of people with public visibility, in a creative, satirical or fictional context, and by recording the use of such technology.

The Minister for Justice stressed that the rule respects the Constitutional Court's jurisprudence on freedom of expression and information: no unlawful interference will be deemed to have occurred when there is a public interest, particularly when the material has a news content.

Another new issue is the regulation of content on real crimes: the draft bill guarantees greater protection for victims of crime, considering any use of the crime by the perpetrator that could cause them harm to be an unlawful interference with their rights. "The offender cannot use the crime they have committed for later use in a television series or any other type of artistic work," Bolaños argued.

With regard to the protection of unlawful interference with the right to honour, the criteria for assessing its seriousness are also regulated, in line with the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court. In addition, symbolic compensation is prohibited and the possibility of publishing the identity of the convicted person in the Official State Gazette is envisaged.

Reparation for victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church

The Council of Ministers has analysed a report on the agreement signed with the Spanish Episcopal Conference and the Spanish Conference of Religious for the reparation of victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

Félix Bolaños recalled that a mixed Church-State system will be created, with the participation of the victims, where financial or other reparations will be proposed at the expense of the Church. In case of disagreements between the victims and the Church, the Ombudsman will be the institution in charge of drafting proposals for recognition and reparation.

The minister reviewed the Government's actions to hold the Catholic Church and the public authorities that "did nothing to investigate or repair these abuses" accountable, as well as the work carried out over the years with victims' associations to "make visible a problem that has existed in society and which has never been given attention or attempted to be repaired."

"We have fully complied with the Ombudsman's recommendations and we have agreed that the Government, in the context of the agreement we signed last week with the Church, will promote the necessary legislative reforms so that these reparations, when they are financial, to the victims are exempt from taxation," concluded Bolaños.

Other agreements

The Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and Government Spokesperson, Elma Saiz, during her speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

The Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and Government Spokesperson, Elma Saiz, has announced that the Council of Ministers has approved the Draft Bill on the Recovery and Resolution of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies, which will now be sent to the Spanish Parliament for further processing. This regulatory change, which dates back to the sector's structural weaknesses revealed by the 2008 financial crisis, complies with the European directive approved after the crisis to create a common prevention, recovery and resolution framework for all these institutions.

Saiz also explained that the Council of Ministers has approved the royal decree granting Spanish nationality to the basketball player Rhys Selby Robinson, born in the United States in 2010. As the minister explained, by completing this procedure before Robinson turns 16, he can be considered as a fully-fledged Spanish player before FIBA and participate with this national team in international tournaments such as the Olympic Games or World Championships.

Finally, Elma Saiz confirmed that the Government has approved the agreement with the European Atomic Energy Community to build a new European head office in Seville. In particular, the Andalusian capital will host the Institute for Prospective Studies of the Joint Research Centre.

Current affairs: sex-based violence, the economy and Venezuela

The Government spokesperson began the press conference by expressing her support, on behalf of the Government, for the family of the latest victim of sex-based violence, murdered in Cádiz. This is the third male violence crime so far in 2026, in a week in which the Government Delegation against Sex-based Violence is gathering data on the murder of another woman in the province of Badajoz. "We will not normalise this horror and we will continue to allocate all state resources - legislative and educational - to protect women and eradicate this painful and outrageous violence," Saiz said.

Elma Saiz continued her speech by celebrating the data from the latest BBVA report on productivity, the results of which show that Spain has seen a sustained increase in this indicator since 2021. "We are being more efficient, more competitive and, moreover, we are generating more added value than our European partners," explained the minister, who pointed out that between 2020 and 2024 productivity grew by 1.4%, "the highest rate since 1995", while the average for the eurozone was close to zero.

The conclusions of the study also point out that the improvement of this indicator explains 33% of the increase in GDP from 2021 to 2024 and - most importantly, according to Minister Saiz - that the financial wealth of Spanish households increased by 9.4% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025. "This is great news because we want the progress of the economy to be seen not only in the macroeconomic balance sheets, but also in people's real lives," added Saiz, for whom the recent recent announcement on housing by Pedro Sánchez reflects the Government's priority to tackle measures that benefit citizens.

In the international arena, Minister Saiz welcomed the conclusion of the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur after decades of negotiations, an agreement that "opens a giant door for our companies, as well as a necessary union with Latin America to create the world's largest market." In "turbulent" times, Saiz said, "this news reaffirms our principles and values: far from establishing barriers, we build bridges and forge alliances to build shared prosperity."

The minister also sent a message of welcome to the Spaniards released in Venezuela. She also highlighted the work carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate their return.

Non official translation