A year ago, standing in Parliament introducing my Safer Phones Bill, I said that we must not shrug our shoulders and accept a childhood shaped by addictive algorithms, anonymous strangers and unchecked technological change. Responding, the Government committed to action within a year.
I’m now a member of the Government and, almost exactly one year on, action is underway.
This week, the Government opened a major consultation on what further measures are needed to protect children from harm online. I am urging parents, carers, teachers and young people in our community to take part, because the next steps we take must be grounded in your own experience.
Our children’s digital world is not an accident of nature, it is designed – by powerful companies, using persuasive technology, to maximise attention and profit. Childhood is being reshaped by features like infinite scrolling, algorithmic feeds and private messaging with strangers. We would never allow unsafe products to be sold in our shops; we should not tolerate unsafe design in our children’s pockets.
This consultation is about confronting that reality honestly and being prepared to act fast. Through amendments to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are taking new powers now so that, once the consultation concludes, we can implement its outcomes through secondary legislation within months – not years. Technology evolves rapidly. The law must be able to keep pace.
We are consulting on significant measures: banning social media for under-16s; raising the digital age of consent from 13 to prevent companies profiting from children’s data without parental consent; introducing overnight curfews and breaks to tackle compulsive use; and strengthening age verification.
In addition, we are exploring restrictions on features that are manifestly unsuitable for children – such as stranger pairing and live streaming – and consulting on blocking the ability for children to send or receive nude images. We will examine whether safeguards being considered for social media should also apply to AI chatbots.
Alongside this, we are closing loopholes so that all AI chatbot providers are clearly bound by duties under the Online Safety Act. No platform gets a free pass when it comes to illegal content. And through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, we will require coroners to notify Ofcom automatically following the death of a child, ensuring vital data is preserved for families.
Last year, I said we needed to match the scale of the challenge with the scale of our response. This consultation marks the next stage of that response.
If we want a digital world that supports children’s wellbeing rather than undermines it, we must shape it deliberately. Please take part and help us get this right together.
Josh MacAlister MP 