Spain has just become the first European country to use government-run AI to publicly rank social media platforms on hate speech. The results go public every 6 months, and every platform will be scored and compared.
What Is HODIO?
On the 11th of March 2026, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stood at Madrid’s first International Forum Against Hate and announced the launch of HODIO. That’s a Spanish acronym for Huella del Odio y la Polarizacion, which translates as Footprint of Hatred and Polarisation.
The system will analyse large volumes of publicly available activity across social networks, measuring the intensity, reach, and spread of hate speech over time. Every 6 months, HODIO produces a public report ranking platforms by how much hate content they allow to circulate. Meta, X, TikTok, all scored and compared in plain sight.
The Spanish Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia, known as OBERAXE, sits under the Ministry of Inclusion and will run the tool. Sanchez compared the idea to measuring a carbon footprint. His exact line was: “When something is measured, it ceases to be invisible.”
He was equally direct about why Spain is doing this now. Hate crimes have risen 41% over the last decade, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry trends, and in his view, social media platforms are structurally incentivising that hate, not just hosting it.
AI Governing AI
What makes HODIO significant is that it goes beyond tracking what gets posted. It evaluates the role of algorithms in amplifying polarising content. Governments have spent years asking platforms to remove harmful posts. Spain is now asking something harder: show me how your algorithm spreads it.
Algorithms are designed to maximise engagement, and engagement is frequently driven by outrage and division. Spain is using AI to interrogate that dynamic at scale. It is using the same kind of data analysis that platforms use to optimise content, turned back on the platforms themselves.
And HODIO is not fully automated. Mobile World Live reports it will combine AI-powered quantitative analysis with human review to identify violent or degrading speech. The human review layer is important. As you’ll know from this podcast, AI with a human in the loop is how these systems should be built, especially when the output carries regulatory consequences.
The Governance Question
Here is where I want to be honest about the uncomfortable part. HODIO raises the question every powerful AI system raises: who decides, and on what basis?
Sanchez has said the system will use recognised academic criteria. But as of launch, those specific criteria have not been made public. Legal experts and digital rights specialists have flagged that HODIO is designed to measure polarisation, which is a much broader and legally harder-to-define category than criminal hate speech. What counts as polarising in one context can be a legitimate political debate in another.
The European Commission has also weighed in, warning Spain not to go beyond the framework set by the Digital Services Act. So the regulatory tension is real. Spain is pushing further than Brussels has explicitly sanctioned.
Spain’s Broader Digital Strategy
HODIO sits inside a much larger regulatory push. In February 2026, Spain announced plans to ban social media access for children under 16, requiring platforms to implement age verification. The government has also asked Spain’s public prosecutor to investigate X, Meta, and TikTok for possible offences related to AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
Spain is positioning itself as the European leader in digital governance, and HODIO is the data infrastructure underpinning that ambition. The rankings it produces will create reputational pressure on platforms, and over time, they will build the evidence base for harder enforcement.
Governments are now using AI to govern AI, and I think that is largely the right direction. If platforms will not self-regulate, states will step in, and they will use the same category of technology to do it.
But what HODIO also does is raise the bar for everyone working with AI professionally. If you operate in regulated markets, if your organisation uses social platforms for communications, if you build or procure AI systems that touch public discourse, you need to start thinking about how those systems would hold up under exactly this kind of scrutiny.
Know it. Use it. Govern it. Spain has made its position clear. The question is whether the rest of Europe, and your organisation, is thinking with the same urgency.
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About the Podcast Host
AI and Communications Specialist | Author | Podcaster | International Speaker
Joanne Sweeney is a recognised leader in digital marketing and digital transformation, specialising in the practical application of AI to enhance communication strategies. The founder of Digital Training Institute, Joanne, empowers leaders and communications professionals to leverage AI responsibly and effectively, ensuring transparency, trust, and tangible results.
She completed the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Programme in AI and Public Policy this summer before launching her fourth book AI Playbook, in September. Joanne has also published two editions of Public Sector Marketing Pro, which were preceded by her first title, Social Media Under Investigation Law Enforcement and the Social Web.
Her books have become go-to resources for governments, public sector and policing agencies, as well as marketing and communications professionals, all navigating the challenges of the changing Internet.
Joanne is the host of the AI SIX Podcast, a daily six-minute podcast that provides actionable insights, expert interviews, and practical advice to help professionals navigate the new world of work.
