How Labour is protecting our children online
Parents in Blackpool South are worried about their children's safety online, and they're right to be. The smartphones we all carry now present a real and serious risk to young people and this government is taking that seriously.
We're preparing legislation that will make it impossible for under-18s to take, view or send nude images. These measures will put the UK at the forefront of online child safety, with the strongest laws anywhere to protect minors from harm on the internet.
The legislation will force tech companies to deliver much stronger child safety protections and confront the growing threat of sexual exploitation and abuse online. It will mean the only way anyone can take, view or send nude images is through robust age verification, backed up by device-level protections built in regardless of platform. For parents in Blackpool South, that should mean real reassurance that their children are protected wherever they're online.
Since June, the government has been working with Apple and Google to secure commitments that would make it impossible for children to send, take or view nude images on their devices. There's been some progress, but we've been clear that the voluntary commitments made so far simply don't go far enough. This is a technically complex area, so we're taking the time to get the legislation right – but we intend to introduce it as soon as we can.
The online world has opened up new and horrifying ways for children to be groomed, exploited and abused. The scale of this is growing fast: in 2024, 91% of online sexual abuse reports involved self-generated content from children themselves. This is exactly what this legislation is designed to stop.
It sits within a wider programme to make children safer online – one that also bans social media companies from offering their services to under-16s, restricts contact with strangers on platforms including gaming services and switches off addictive scrolling features for 16 and 17-year-olds.
Ultimately, this government believes tech companies have to play their part in keeping children safe. It shouldn't fall on parents alone to police what their kids see and do online – that protection should be a given.
