LONDON (Kashmir English): Britain is preparing to bring in an Australian-style ban on social media for children under 16 as early as this year.
The government is also working on addressing a loophole that left some AI chatbots outside safety rules, as part of government efforts to respond more quickly to digital risks.
Keir Starmer’s government in January launched a consultation on a social media ban for children under 16 and is now working to amend legislation so that it could bring in the changes at the earliest.
“What we did with Grok over-sexualised images, we must do with all AI chatbots,” Starmer said.
Greece, Spain and Slovenia have also stated they are working on bans after Australia became the first country in the world to block social media access to under-16s.
Scrutiny has since intensified further after AI chatbot Grok was found to be generating nonconsensual sexualised images.
Global pressure on social media platforms
The country’s 2023 Online Safety Act is one of the strictest safety regimes worldwide, but it does not cover one-to-one interactions with AI chatbots unless they share information with other users, a loophole that technology minister Liz Kendall said would soon be closed.
Britain cannot allow regulatory gaps to persist after the act took nearly eight years to pass and come into force, she said.
“I am concerned about these AI chatbots… as is the prime minister, about the impact that’s having on children and young people,” Kendall told Times Radio, saying some children were forming one-to-one relationships with AI systems that were not designed with child safety in mind.
She said the government was likely to set out its proposals before June.
Speaking to media on Monday, Kendall said tech firms would be responsible for ensuring their systems complied with British law.
