Starmer pledges crackdown on 'addictive elements' of social media
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to "crack down on the addictive elements of social media" as part of the government's new online safety plans.
The proposals would include closing loopholes in existing laws designed to protect children online, as well as consulting on a potential social media ban for under-16s.
The government also plans to introduce powers to speedily change the law in response to developing online behaviours, and to update legislation to preserve children's social media and online data - as campaigned for by the group Jools' Law.
Opponents accused the government of "inaction", and have called for Parliament to be given a vote on the social media ban for children.
The government had already said it would launch the public consultation in March, seeking opinions about restricting children's access to AI chatbots and limiting infinite scrolling features for children – also known as doomscrolling.
It follows arguments between ministers and X's Elon Musk earlier this year, after the platform's Grok AI chatbot was used to make fake nude images of women.
Ahead of launching the consultation, Sir Keir said: "The action we took on Grok sent a clear message that no platform gets a free pass."
"Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up. With my government, Britain will be a leader, not a follower, when it comes to online safety," he said.
Other measures being considered include preventing children from using virtual private networks (VPNs) to illicitly access pornography and amending the law so chatbots have to protect users from illegal content.
In an article on the website Substack, Sir Keir said that, as a parent of two teenagers, he knows children's access to social media is "something that is front and centre of a lot of parents' minds right now".
He said: "In the past 20+ years, social media has evolved to become something completely different from the simple, stripped-back pages it was in its conception.
"And in that evolution, it has become something that is quietly harming our children."
The prime minister added that the government will "bring new powers that will give us the ability to crack down on the addictive elements of social media, stop the auto-play, the never-ending scrolling, that keeps our children hooked on their screens for hours, and stop kids getting around age limits".
"And if that means a fight with the big social media companies, then bring it on," he said.
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