Starmer says tech firms must stop children sending and receiving explicit images or face new laws
Starmer says tech firms must stop children sending and receiving explicit images or face new laws
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cr5j43zp2rpt
Publish Date: 2026-06-08 04:18:00
Source Domain: www.bbc.com
What are the UK’s existing online safety laws?published at 10:21 BST
Liv McMahon
Technology reporter
Image source, PA
The UK has already introduced laws to try to protect children
online.
Foremost is the Online Safety Act – laws and duties online
platforms must follow – implemented and enforced by media regulator Ofcom.
The act requires firms to remove illegal content, including child sexual abuse, controlling or coercive behaviour or promoting
suicide or self-harm.
It has also created offences to make sending unsolicited sexual
imagery – known as cyber-flashing – and sharing “deepfake”
pornography, creating using AI, illegal.
Under Ofcom’s Protection of Children Codes, companies must also
prevent children from being exposed to harmful content relating to suicide,
self-harm, eating disorders and pornography. The regulator has already fined
some firms for not complying with these requirements.
Earlier this year the government also banned so-called
nudification apps.
But child safety campaigners have urged the government to go
further to stop children seeing or sharing nude images, amid concerns about
online grooming and sextortion.
