Starmer seeks broader powers to police internet access and child safety as U.K. weighs under-16 social media ban
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will move to secure broader powers to regulate internet access, arguing the U.K. must accelerate protections for children as digital risks evolve rapidly and platform rules shift faster than legislation can keep up.
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The push, announced as the government advances its review of online child safety, follows a plan unveiled last month to consult on an Australian-style ban on social media for children under 16. Spain, Greece and Slovenia have since said they plan to introduce similar bans.
“Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up,” Starmer said in a statement. His office said expanded powers were needed so that, after the review, the government “can act fast on its findings within months, rather than waiting years for new primary legislation every time technology evolves.”
The package will also widen the reach of a ban on creating sexualized images without the subject’s consent to cover more artificial intelligence chatbots, the government said, citing recent measures against Elon Musk’s Grok as an example of how enforcement is extending to new tools.
Ministers plan to introduce the changes as amendments to existing crime and child-protection legislation now before the U.K. Parliament, streamlining the route to implementation rather than drafting a standalone bill.
While aimed squarely at shielding children online, the measures could carry broader implications for adults’ privacy and access to services. They are likely to add to ongoing tensions with the United States over free speech norms and the regulatory reach of national governments over global platforms.
The U.K.’s tightening of age-verification rules has already reshaped parts of the internet for British users. Image-hosting site Imgur, widely used for memes and embedded images in online forums, blocked access for all British users last year and returned blank images rather than comply. Several major pornography websites have also blocked U.K. access rather than implement age checks they said were intrusive and potentially insecure.
Officials acknowledge that geographic restrictions can be circumvented through widely available virtual private networks. As a result, the government said its consultation on child safety would consider potential age restrictions for VPNs, a move that would further test the balance between safeguarding measures and digital privacy.
The review’s outcomes, combined with expedited powers to update rules, point to a more flexible regulatory posture as the government targets harms ranging from addictive platform design to generative AI tools that can produce nonconsensual sexualized imagery. The intention, Starmer’s office said, is to cut the lag between identifying risks and taking action.
The U.K. joins a growing roster of European governments exploring or adopting tighter youth access rules and faster enforcement over social media and AI. Any final package will face scrutiny not only from child-safety advocates but also from civil-liberties groups and technology firms that warn sweeping mandates can chill speech and drive users into harder-to-police corners of the internet.
The government has not set a timetable for when the consultation will conclude, but says it wants the authority to move at the pace of technology—months rather than years—once recommendations land.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
