Starmer moves to tighten AI and social media rules in child safety push

Keir Starmer is stepping up the UK’s digital safety agenda with a plan that targets both AI chatbots and children’s access to social media, arguing that regulation has to move at the same speed as the technology it is trying to control.

Downing Street said the government will crack down on “vile and illegal content created by AI” and seek new legal powers that would allow ministers to act quickly once a public consultation on youth internet use reports back. That consultation, due to begin in March, will examine options including a minimum age for social media and restrictions on the use of VPNs to bypass online safeguards.

“Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up,” Starmer said.

“We are acting to protect children’s wellbeing and help parents to navigate the minefield of social media,” he added.

The immediate focus is on bringing AI chatbot providers fully under existing digital safety rules, including enforcing a ban on generating sexualised images without consent. The move follows recent action over “non-consensual intimate images” produced by the Grok chatbot on Elon Musk’s X platform, which has become a reference point in the debate over how quickly generative tools can be used to create harmful material.

What makes the proposal politically and constitutionally notable is the mechanism. Rather than relying on new standalone legislation each time the technology shifts, the government wants powers that would let it update restrictions through amendments to existing crime and child-protection laws. The argument from Starmer’s office is that waiting for full parliamentary cycles risks leaving regulation permanently behind the curve; the trade-off is reduced scrutiny over future measures.

The UK is not moving in isolation. Australia’s decision to bar under-16s from major social media platforms has already forced companies to remove millions of accounts and created a working model that other governments are studying. Starmer’s plan has unusual cross-party momentum, with both Labour and the Conservatives backing the idea of a minimum age threshold.

But the wider implications are harder to contain. Measures designed for children often reshape the online environment for everyone, particularly when age verification is involved. Previous tightening of UK rules led some platforms  to block access for British users altogether rather than comply.

There is also an external dimension. Restrictions on access, identity checks and content moderation have repeatedly produced friction with the United States, where free speech concerns and the global reach of American tech companies collide with national regulatory models.