{"id":91590,"date":"2026-02-16T19:31:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/892884322"},"modified":"2026-02-16T19:31:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:31:29","slug":"starmer-pledges-faster-action-on-childrens-online-safety-to-close-tech-loopholes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/starmer-pledges-faster-action-on-childrens-online-safety-to-close-tech-loopholes\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer pledges faster action on children&#8217;s online safety to close tech loopholes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img data-opt-id=758893364  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=75&resize=75&ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=100&resize=100&ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=150&resize=150&ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=240&resize=240&ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=320&resize=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=500&resize=500&ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=640&resize=640&ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=800&resize=800&ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=1024&resize=1024&ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=1280&resize=1280&ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1&w=1600&resize=1600&ssl=1 1600w\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.easterneye.biz\/media-library\/keir-starmer-online-safety.jpg?id=64862731&width=1200&height=600&coordinates=0%2C102%2C0%2C23&ssl=1\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<h4>Highlights<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"ee-ul\">\n<li>Coroners to notify Ofcom of every child death aged 5-18 so tech firms cannot delete data within five days.<\/li>\n<li><span><\/span>AI chatbots to be included in Online Safety Act closing loopholes created before ChatGPT&#8217;s release.<\/li>\n<li><span><\/span>Government plans new legal powers to act &#8220;within months&#8221; rather than years after consultation findings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Prime minister Keir Starmer has pledged to close loopholes in online safety laws more quickly, promising no social media platform will receive a &#8220;free pass&#8221; over children&#8217;s protection as technology evolves faster than legislation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up,&#8221; Keir said, adding he wanted Britain to lead on online safety. <\/p>\n<p>He promised to &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Key proposals include requiring coroners to notify Ofcom of every child death aged 5-18, ensuring tech companies preserve data within five days if relevant to the cause of death. <\/p>\n<p>The measure follows the Jools&#8217; Law campaign by Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Jools died in 2022 while attempting an internet challenge. Under current rules, data must be requested within 12 months but is often deleted before families can access it.<\/p>\n<h4>Protecting children online<\/h4>\n<p>The government also plans to include AI chatbots within the Online Safety Act, which became law in 2023 before ChatGPT&#8217;s release, closing significant technological loopholes. <\/p>\n<p>Other measures include preventing children from using virtual private networks to bypass age checks and requiring chatbots to protect users from illegal content.<\/p>\n<p>A public consultation launching in March will seek opinions on restricting children&#8217;s access to AI chatbots and limiting infinite scrolling features. <\/p>\n<p>Technology secretary Liz Kendall said new legal powers would allow the government to &#8220;act fast on its findings within months, rather than waiting years for new primary legislation every time technology evolves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h4>Opposition demands action<\/h4>\n<p>Critics questioned the government&#8217;s approach. Shadow education secretary Laura Trott described the consultation as &#8220;inaction,&#8221; saying Britain was &#8220;lagging behind&#8221; and calling for an immediate ban on under-16s accessing harmful platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Munira Wilson accused the government of &#8220;kicking the can down the road,&#8221; demanding a &#8220;much clearer, firm timeline&#8221; for action.<\/p>\n<p>Andy Burrows, chief executive of suicide prevention charity the Molly Rose Foundation, strongly welcomed the ambition but said Keir must go further, calling for a new Online Safety Act making &#8220;product safety and children&#8217;s wellbeing the cost of doing business in the UK.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Roome told <em>BBC<\/em> &#8220;This going forward will help other bereaved families. What we now need to do is stop the harm happening in the first place.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\"> <\/a><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/acceptable.html\"> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230; aged 5-18 so <span class=\"match\">tech<\/span> firms cannot delete data &#8230; aged 5-18, ensuring <span class=\"match\">tech<\/span> companies preserve data within &#8230; limiting infinite scrolling features. <span class=\"match\">Technology<\/span> secretary Liz Kendall said &#8230; new primary legislation every time <span class=\"match\">technology<\/span> evolves.&quot; Opposition demands &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}