Overview
- An amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill will bring all AI chatbots under Online Safety Act illegal‑content duties and extend bans on generating sexualised images without consent.
- The government’s consultation will examine a minimum age for social media, limits on features such as infinite scrolling and autoplay, and potential restrictions on children’s interactions with AI chatbots.
- Officials will consider curbing VPN use by minors to stop age‑check evasion for pornography and other services, with tech firms warned they will be held to account by Ofcom.
- Ministers plan to use the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to gain fast‑track powers so they can act on the consultation’s findings within months, with proposals due before summer.
- Measures will include preserving children’s online data in serious cases under the Jools’ Law campaign, as critics warn that consultation delays and enforcement and privacy challenges remain.