PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Child Protection Online - 20 May 2026 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

Ensuring that children have healthy and safe lives online is one of my top priorities. From making cyber-flashing and self-harm and suicide content the subject of priority offences under the Online Safety Act 2023 to banning nudification apps and standing up to Grok and X, I will leave no stone unturned to ensure that children are protected. Our consultation on growing up online closes next Tuesday, so there is still time to respond. I will bring forward proposals before the summer, and I intend to pass any legislation required by the end of the year.

Many of my constituents are rightly worried about the harms that children face online, including exposure to self-harm content, online bullying and addictive platform design. Can the Secretary of State reassure the House that the Government’s consultation on banning social media for under-16s will result in decisive action, and ensure that any measures that are introduced are effective, proportionate and capable of keeping pace with rapidly changing technology?

Yes, that is absolutely my objective. I remind the House that our consultation is looking at not just whether there should be a ban on social media for under-16s but a whole range of other issues, including whether platforms should be required to switch off addictive features, whether there should be mandatory overnight curfews, whether there should be age or other restrictions on artificial intelligence chatbots, how age verification should be strengthened, and how to help children and parents navigate the online world and thrive. We are determined to act, and we will be prepared to act on all of those issues.

Too often, children are exposed to harmful content online, with material promoting pornography and self-harm pushed towards them. Childhood should not be handed over to algorithms. As a mum, I know that parents are terrified that social media companies are putting profit before protection. Does the Secretary of State agree that not only should social media companies step up, but it is time to legislate to ensure that they take active steps to protect our children online?

Yes, I do agree. We have legislated, and we are prepared to go further. I have already made strangulation and suffocation in porn a priority offence under the Online Safety Act. We are determined to ensure that rules about what happens in online pornography are the same as the rules for what happens offline, and we are coming forward with proposals on that. This is something that deeply worries parents across the country. The question is not whether we act but how, and I am determined to use all possible levers to protect children online.

Big tech is a force for good, but so often it is used for bad. Is there not a fundamental conflict of interest for this Government, and even the previous Government, in that big tech companies are so embedded in Government Departments and agencies that the Government are not prepared to take the tough action necessary to protect children and the most vulnerable? Is it not the case that big tech companies are not paying taxes to this country and are avoiding substantive regulation, and that the Government now believe that big tech is too big to fail?

Not for the first time, and not for the last time, the right hon. Gentleman raises an extremely important issue. He may not be aware that we have made the decisive move to back more British tech companies, because we believe that as artificial intelligence and tech become the engine of economic and hard power, we need more sovereign control.

There are many wonderful examples of technology provided by big tech companies. I have seen that in my own constituency, with AI tutors to help poor kids catch up. We want to make sure that the benefits of technology are felt by everybody in this country, not just a powerful few, and that we shape this powerful technology, so that it works for all. I say to the right hon. Gentleman: watch this space, because there will be more to come.

New polling commissioned by the Online Safety Act Network shows that almost 80% of the public want comprehensive laws regulating social media platforms, because otherwise those platforms will continue to prioritise their business interests over users’ safety. The Government have been weak on that and had no new online safety legislation in the King’s Speech. Will the Secretary of State at least move quickly to adopt the network’s safety by design code, in order to deliver the comprehensive reforms that the public want?

I remind the hon. Lady that I have already made it a requirement in law that chatbots must protect users from illegal content. I banned nudification apps, through a new criminal offence. We are requiring platforms to take down non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours, and we are requiring platforms to act faster on all those things. It is not true to say that we have not legislated to go further to protect children online. Is she right that there is more to do? Absolutely, and we will act.

I call the Chair of the Science and Technology Committee.

The original sin underpinning many of today’s digital harms is engagement-driven digital advertising. That is what incentivised the platforms to hook young people on infinite scrolling, as members of FlippGen explained to me when I met them on Monday. It is also what drives the “London is broken” misinformation that Sadiq Khan highlighted, and what rewards the fabricated clickbait AI Auschwitz images called out by the Auschwitz Museum. Will the Secretary of State take steps to regulate digital advertising, as the Committee called for in its report published almost a year ago?

My hon. Friend is right: follow the money. I am highly aware of that, and we are determined to act. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Digital Government and Data is chairing the digital advertising taskforce, which is a joint effort between this Department and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to look at precisely these issues, because we want to ensure that illegal and harmful content is not rewarded.

When a child views an inappropriate image online, they cannot unsee it. I have been horrified recently by the number of parents coming to me about inappropriate ads popping up on kids’ digital games. Some of the images are horrendous, and children are viewing them at a very early age. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss this ongoing issue?

I or one of my Ministers will meet the hon. Member. She is right to say that once you have seen something, you cannot unsee it. That is especially true for young minds. We all know that young children will wake up in the night and talk to us about things that they remember seeing, but do not understand because they are too young. Either one of my Ministers or I will be more than happy to meet her, see those images for ourselves, and speak to Ofcom and others about what we can do to try to stop that.

I call the shadow Minister.

Does the Secretary of State regret having been forced into a ban on social media for under-16s during proceedings on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, rather than having committed to a ban the first place, or introducing a Bill in the King’s Speech?

No.