Overview
- The government will amend the Crime and Policing Bill to require all AI chatbot providers to comply with the Online Safety Act’s illegal‑content duties.
- A March consultation will consider a minimum age for social media, limits on infinite scrolling, restrictions on children’s use of chatbots, and curbs on VPNs used to bypass age checks for pornography.
- Ministers plan to use the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to fast‑track rule changes and to mandate preservation of children’s online data in serious cases under the Jools’ Law campaign.
- Keir Starmer said “no platform gets a free pass,” pointing to action over Grok after it was used to create fake sexual images of women and girls.
- Opposition figures and campaigners criticized the timetable as slow and pressed for immediate age limits, while experts flagged ongoing enforcement and privacy hurdles.