UK Starts Online Checks To Stop Children Accessing Harmful Content
Under the new rules, to be enforced by Britain's media watchdog, websites and apps hosting potentially harmful content will be held responsible for age checks using measures such as facial imagery and credit cards.
Around 6,000 pornography sites have agreed to implement the curbs, according to Melanie Dawes, chief executive of British regulator Ofcom.
Other platforms such as X, which is facing a dispute over similar restrictions in Ireland, must also protect children from illegal pornographic, hateful and violent content, she noted.
"We've done the work that no other regulator has done," Dawes told BBC Radio.
"These systems can work. We've researched that," she said.
Around 500,000 youngsters aged eight to 14 encountered pornography online last month, according to Ofcom.
The long-awaited new rules, which aim to prevent minors from encountering content relating to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders as well as porn, stem from a 2023 Online Safety Act.
It imposes legal responsibilities on tech companies to better safeguard children and adults online and mandates sanctions for those who fall short.
Rule-breakers face fines of up to GBP18 million ($23 million) or 10 percent of their worldwide revenue, "whichever is greater", according to the government.
Criminal action can also be taken against senior managers who fail to ensure companies follow Ofcom information requests.
The measures are coming into force now after the sector and the regulator were given time to prepare.
Children will "experience a different internet for the first time," technology secretary Peter Kyle told Sky News, adding he had "very high expectations" for the changes.
In an interview with parenting forum Mumsnet, he also said sorry to youngsters who had been exposed to harmful content.
"I want to apologise to any kid who's over 13 who has not had any of these protections," Kyle said.
Rani Govender, of the child protection charity NSPCC, said it was "a really important milestone that we're finally seeing tech companies having to take responsibility for making their services safe for children".
Children are frequently "stumbling across this harmful and dangerous content," she told BBC News.
"There will be loopholes," Govender noted, insisting it was still "right that we're introducing much stronger rules to make sure that that can't continue to happen".
Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government is also considering introducing a daily two-hour limit for children on social media apps.
Kyle said he would announce more plans for regulating the sector for under-16s "in the near future".
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
a day ago
- Int'l Business Times
Britain Leads Calls For Airdrops As Gaza Hunger Crisis Deepens
International pressure was mounting on Saturday for alternative ways to be found to deliver food to hungry Palestinian civilians in Gaza, with Britain vowing to back airdrops. The UK decision to support the plans of regional partners Jordan and the United Arab Emirates came as pro-Palestinian activists piloted a symbolic aid vessel towards the shores of Gaza in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade. On the ground, the territory's civil defence agency said at least 40 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli military strikes and shootings. Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical that airdrops can deliver enough food to tackle the deepening hunger crisis facing Gaza's more than two million inhabitants and are instead demanding that Israel allow more overland convoys. But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the idea, vowing to work with Jordan to restart airdrops -- and with France and Germany to develop a plan for a lasting ceasefire. An Israeli official told AFP on Friday that airdrops in Gaza would resume soon, adding they would be conducted by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Starmer's office said that in a call with his French and German counterparts, the "prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance". The United Arab Emirates said it would resume airdrops "immediately". "The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level," Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a post on X. "Air drops are resuming once more, immediately." A number of Western and Arab governments carried out air drops in Gaza in 2024, at a time when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective. "Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians," said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Israel imposed a total blockade on the entry of aid into Gaza on March 2 after talks to extend a ceasefire in the now 21-month-old conflict broke down. In late May, it began to allow a trickle of aid to enter. Israel's military insists it does not limit the number of trucks going into the Gaza Strip, and alleges that UN agencies and relief groups are not collecting the aid once it is inside the territory. But humanitarian organisations accuse the Israeli army of imposing excessive restrictions, while tightly controlling road access within Gaza. A separate aid operation is under way through the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but has faced fierce international criticism after Israeli fire killed hundreds of Palestinians near distribution points. On Saturday, pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla said its latest aid boat, the Handala, was approaching Gaza and had already got closer than its previous vessel, the Madleen, which was intercepted and boarded by Israeli forces last month. The Israeli military said it was monitoring the situation and was prepared to enforce what it called its "legal maritime security blockade". Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 40 people on Saturday, including 14 killed in separate incidents near aid distribution centres. One of the 14 was killed "after Israeli forces opened fire on people waiting for humanitarian aid" northwest of Gaza City, the agency said. Witnesses told AFP that several thousand people had gathered in the area. Abu Samir Hamoudeh, 42, said the Israeli military opened fire while people were waiting to approach a distribution point near an Israeli military post in the Zikim area, northwest of Sudaniyah. The Israeli military told AFP that its troops fired "warning shots to distance the crowd" after identifying an "immediate threat". It added that it was not aware of any casualties as a result of the fire. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Pro-Palestinian activists gather on the dockside in Italy earlier this month to watch the Hamdala set sail for Gaza in a symbolic bid to breach Israel's blockade. AFP Hidaya al-Mutawaq, 31, cradles her sick 18-month-old son Mohammed, who is showing signs of malnutrition, inside their tent in Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. AFP
Int'l Business Times
a day ago
- Int'l Business Times
Trump Takes 5-Day 'Working Visit' to His Golf Clubs in Scotland as Epstein Controversy Boils
President Donald Trump left the White House Friday for a five-day "working visit" to his luxury golf clubs in Scotland, a trip many have painted as an attempt to dodge the growing scrutiny surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Trump arrived in Scotland on Friday and is expected to spend part of his trip at his Turnberry golf resort, as well as attend the opening of his Aberdeen club, named after his Scottish mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, CNN reported. Despite a packed schedule that includes trade talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday and multiple meetings with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss trade agreements with the European Union (EU) and the UK, according to reporting by ABC News, many view the visit as an attempt to sidestep mounting media scrutiny over the ongoing Epstein controversy. The U.S. president has attempted to distance himself from the disgraced financier following the Department of Justice's announcement that no additional files, aside from a grand jury testimonial, would be released, sparking outrage among his MAGA supporters. In place of an Epstein-related document dump, the Trump administration tried to shift focus by releasing more than 230,000 pages of Martin Luther King Jr. files. Simultaneously, the administration proposed changes to Coca-Cola's recipe and targeted "The View," seemingly aiming to divert media attention. However, upon landing in Scotland, Trump was asked whether he asked "House Republican leaders to not vote on the resolution about the Epstein files" upon landing at Glasgow Prestwick Airport. "Did you ask House Republican leaders to not vote on the resolution about the Epstein files?" a reporter asked Trump after he landed at Glasgow Prestwick Airport. "No, I was never involved in that," Trump said. "I'm focused on making deals, I'm not focused on conspiracy theories that you are. I mean, I watch you people, it's so sad. You ought to talk about the success of our country instead of this nonsense you talk about over and over again," he added. In response to his arrival, the "Stop Trump" coalition organized demonstrations outside U.S. consulates across Scotland on Saturday, AP News reported. Along with condemning the impact of his luxury Trump resorts on Scotland, protesters criticized what they believe is his harmful worldwide influence. "I think there are far too many countries that are feeling the pressure of Trump and that they feel that they have to accept him and we should not accept him here," June Osbourne, an Edinburgh resident attending Saturday's protest told AP News. The dual-U.S.-British citizen said the Republican president was "the worst thing that has happened to the world, the U.S., in decades." Originally published on Latin Times
DW
a day ago
- DW
Middle East updates: UK, Jordan working on Gaza airdrop plan – DW – 07/26/2025
The United Kingdom and Jordan are coordinating on a plan to airdrop aid into Gaza, according to British PM Keir Starmer. Meanwhile, dozens more Palestinians have reportedly been killed by Israeli fire. DW has United Kingdom is working with Middle Eastern allies including Jordan on plans to airdrop aid into the Gaza Strip and evacuate children in need of medical care, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said on Saturday. "The prime minister set out how the UK will be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance," read a statement after Starmer held a three-way phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. During the conversation, the three leaders agreed that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "appalling" and that it would be "vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace," according to the Downing Street readout. "They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan ... which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region," it continued. "They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it." In Berlin, Chancellor Merz's office spoke of "large agreement" on the call – despite Germany so far refusing to criticize Israel to the extent that the UK and France have done, with the latter even set to officially recognize Palestinian statehood later this year. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "We will be coordinating very closely in the coming days to take the next steps," said Merz. The phone call came a day after United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience." For the first time in months, Israel said it is allowing airdrops, requested by neighboring Jordan. An official in Amman said the airdrops will mainly be food and milk formula. But the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned on social media that airdrops are "expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians" and won't reverse the increasing starvation or prevent aid diversion. "A man-made hunger can only be addressed by political will," he said, demanding: "Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Some 40 people died while trying to access humanitarian aid, including 16 who were shot by Israeli forces, in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local Palestinian authorities and medics. Doctors at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said that 16 people were killed and another 300 injured near the northern Zikim border crossing waiting for trucks carrying aid. One witness told the AFP news agency that Israeli troops opened fire "while the people were waiting to approach the distribution point." The Israeli military told AFP that its troops fired "warning shots to distance the crowd" after identifying an unspecified "immediate threat." Elsewhere, Gaza's Hamas-run civil defense agency said nine people were killed in three separate Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, eleven in four separate strikes near the southern city of Khan Yunis and two in a drone strike in Nuseirat refugee camp. The Palestinian militant group Hamas expressed surprise on Saturday at suggestions from US President Donald Trump that the group "didn't really want" a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza. Trump made the allegation on Friday after Israel and the United States walked out of indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar that had lasted nearly three weeks. "Trump's remarks are particularly surprising, especially as they come at a time when progress had been made on some of the negotiation files," said a spokesman for the Islamist group which launched the deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the current conflict. "So far, we have not been informed of any issues regarding the files under discussion in the indirect ceasefire negotiations", he added. Though not part of the Hamas negotiating team, Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq insisted the group had shown "flexibility" in the talks, but Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of not "acting in good faith." Hello and welcome to DW's coverage of developments in Gaza, Israel and the wider Middle East on Saturday, July 26. In a three-way conversation with his French and German counterparts, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom was working with regional partners such as Jordan on a plan to airdrop aid into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, medics and Hamas officials said that dozens more Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire, some while waiting for humanitarian aid.
