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Briefly
- The brand new powers would ban under-16s from social media, prohibit infinite scroll and autoplay, and restrict youngsters's entry to VPNs.
- Former PM Rishi Sunak warned the UK dangers changing into "a theme park for traditionally curious vacationers" with out sooner AI adoption.
- U.S. lawyer Preston Byrne stated the GRANITE Act, a proposed American protect legislation in opposition to international censorship orders, can be used to counter any UK try to focus on U.S. VPN suppliers.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer introduced he’ll go to Parliament to hunt new powers to manage AI chatbots, and he's prepared for a struggle with the businesses which have refused to behave.
In a Substack addressed on to the general public, Starmer stated the federal government would tighten present on-line security legal guidelines to make sure AI chatbot suppliers are "firmly in scope," constructing on a current ban on nudification apps and the criminalization of non-consensual intimate photos.
"No social media platform ought to get a free go in the case of defending our youngsters," Starmer posted on X. "That's why I'm taking motion."
Pending public session, the proposed powers would permit the federal government to set age limits for social media, block options equivalent to autoplay and limitless scroll that preserve youngsters "hooked to their screens." It could additionally prohibit VPN entry for minors searching for to bypass age limits.
"Not like the Tories, who took years to go the On-line Security Act, we are going to take powers that will permit us to implement a minimal age for social media in a matter of months to stop children from accessing dangerous social media," Starmer wrote.
The bulletins come amid worldwide alarm over xAI’s Grok chatbot, after the Middle for Countering Digital Hate estimated it generated 23,338 sexualized photos of youngsters in simply 11 days, roughly one each 41 seconds.
Evin McMullen, co-founder and CEO of Billions.Community, advised Decrypt, the hurt was completely predictable.
"Loosening guardrails to juice metrics within the quick time period is a reckless gamble when the fallout consists of youngster exploitation materials flooding platforms,” McMullen stated. “Once you market 'spicy mode' as a characteristic and prioritize virality over security, you're inviting precisely this sort of abuse.
“Safeguarding youngsters and privateness isn't a bug repair,” he added.
Each the impartial regulatory and competitors authority, Ofcom, and the nation’s Data Commissioner’s Workplace opened probes into X earlier this month, warning of “critical issues below UK information safety legislation.” Ofcom stated it might search court-backed measures to dam the platform whether it is discovered to be non-compliant.
Starmer's intervention has drawn criticism from the opposition, with Reform UK Chairman David Bull writing on X, "This authorities is uncontrolled. Their priorities are all improper whereas the nation is being left to collapse."
Preston Byrne, managing accomplice of Byrne & Storm, P.C., and the creator of the GRANITE Act, a proposed U.S. protect legislation formally launched in Wyoming that will defend American digital service suppliers from international authorities censorship orders, warned the UK's transfer would set off quick authorized retaliation.
In the meantime, former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, writing in The Sunday Occasions this weekend, urged Starmer to deal with AI as an financial alternative somewhat than solely a security downside, warning that failure to drive adoption might depart Britain as "a theme park for traditionally curious vacationers."
Sunak, now a senior adviser to Microsoft, stated AI deployment within the public sector must be a high authorities precedence, noting that the UK fell from eighth to ninth in Microsoft's international rankings of office AI adoption between the primary and second halves of 2025.
Starmer’s AI chatbot regulation, centered on defending youngsters on-line, comes as he faces political fallout over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the U.S. final yr.
Mandelson, a former UK Cupboard minister and senior Labour determine, was later dismissed after disclosures within the Epstein information, court docket information, and official paperwork confirmed hyperlinks to the convicted intercourse offender.
Epstein, who died in custody in 2019, was a U.S. financier accused of trafficking and abusing underage ladies.
Starmer later apologized, saying he had “believed Mandelson’s lies” about their relationship when making the appointment.
