UK starts online checks to stop children accessing harmful content
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 £18 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.
'Different internet'
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
France 24
14 hours ago
- France 24
Hundreds demonstrate in protest-hit UK town
It was the latest in a series of demonstrations in Epping, northeast of London, after an asylum seeker was charged earlier in July with three counts of sexual assault, including allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl. But only about 400 people from rival groups demonstrated in the town, as police put in place a tight security operation, erecting barricades to keep them apart and banning the wearing of masks. Essex police said they had "a robust policing operation in place to protect our community and to deal swiftly with anyone intent on causing crime or violent disorder". Protestors gathered outside the Bell Hotel in the town, which has been used to house asylum seekers and refugees, despite pleas from the local council to close it down. "They're a threat. They don't know who they are, who they're allowing in these hotels, and basically they're putting everybody at danger", one protester, who identified herself only as Cathy, told AFP. There was also a counter-protest by the organisation Stand Up To Racism, who chanted "refugees are welcome here' and "Whose streets? Our streets". Three people were arrested Sunday but the protest went off "peacefully," Essex police said in a statement. The issue of thousands of irregular migrants arriving in small boats across the Channel, coupled with the UK's worsening economy, has triggered rising anger among some Britons. Such sentiments have been amplified by inflammatory messaging on social networks, fuelled by far-right activists. Almost exactly a year ago on July 29, 2024, three young girls were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in northwestern Southport. Nearly 24,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel so far in 2025, the highest-ever tally at this point in a year. © 2025 AFP
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
French authorities question airline over removal of Jewish passengers
French authorities are trying to establish whether a group of young French citizens were removed from a plane bound for Paris from Spain this week because they are Jewish. The airline, Vueling, has denied the claims. Several dozen French passengers on Wednesday were kicked off a flight leaving the Spanish city of Valencia for Paris, for what Spanish police and the airline described as unruly behavior. France 's ministry for Europe and foreign affairs said in a statement on Saturday that the minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, contacted the CEO of Vueling, Carolina Martinoli, to express his deep concern 'about the removal of a group of young French Jews from one of the company's flights.' Barrot also requested more information to 'determine whether these individuals had been discriminated against on the basis of their religion.' A similar request has been made to the Spanish ambassador to France. 'Ms. Martinoli assured Mr. Barrot that a thorough internal investigation was underway and that its findings would be shared with the French and Spanish authorities,' the ministry said. Vueling previously denied reports that the incident, which involved the removal of 44 minors and eight adults from flight V8166, was related to the passengers' religion. Some Israeli news outlets reported that the students were Jewish and that their removal was religiously motivated, a claim that was repeated by an Israeli minister online. Spain's Civil Guard said the minors and adults were French nationals. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the agents involved were not aware of the group's religious affiliation. A Vueling spokesperson said the passengers were removed after the minors repeatedly tampered with the plane's emergency equipment and interrupted the crew's safety demonstration. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the captain of the plane ordered the removal of the minors from the plane at Valencia's Manises Airport after they repeatedly ignored the crew's instructions. On Thursday, the Federation for Jewish Communities of Spain expressed concern about the incident. The group said that Vueling needed to provide documentary evidence of what happened on the plane.
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
US condemns French inquiry into Musk's social media platform X
US officials issued a harsh condemnation Friday of France's criminal investigation into the social network X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, on suspicion of foreign interference. 'As part of a criminal investigation, an activist French prosecutor is requesting information on X's proprietary algorithm and has classified X as an 'organized crime group,'' the US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor wrote on their X account. 'Democratic governments should allow all voices to be heard, not silence speech they dislike. The United States will defend the free speech of all Americans against acts of foreign censorship.' Paris cybercrime prosecutors called for the police probe July 11 to investigate suspected crimes—including manipulating and extracting data from automated systems 'as part of a criminal gang.' The social media company last week denied the allegations, calling them 'politically motivated.' X also said it had refused to comply with the prosecutor's request to access its recommendation algorithm and real-time data. The investigation follows two January complaints that alleged the X algorithm had been used for foreign interference in French politics. One of the complaints came from Eric Bothorel, an MP from President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party, who complained of 'reduced diversity of voices and options' and Musk's 'personal interventions' in the platform's management since he took it over. X said it 'categorically denies' all allegations and that the probe 'is distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech.' 'Democracy is too fragile to let digital platform owners tell us what to think, who to vote for or even who to hate,' Bothorel said after the investigation was announced.
