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Online safety was a hot political issue in the last Parliament and it is likely to remain a subject of much attention for the new government.
Labour pledged several commitments in its manifesto, and the Party was also vocally in support of stronger measures during the passage of the Online Safety Act (OSA).
Two concrete proposals are to create a “Data Preservation Process” - allowing coroners access to online information when investigating a child’s death - and to ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes. These measures ran out of legislative time before the general election, but given pressure from children’s and women’s rights groups we would expect quick progress on these initiatives from Labour.
Beyond these carried-over commitments, Labour has stated it will “go further” on online safety. Below, we assess the top five potential focus areas.
Large language models (LLMs) and chatbots rocketed to prominence towards the end of the OSA’s passage. Now several commentators are calling for further protections to address a perceived absence of regulation over these new technologies.
Jonathan Hall KC, the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, has claimed the OSA is inadequate following his investigation into how chatbots can encourage individuals to conduct terror-related acts. He claims “it is hard to identify a person who could in law be responsible for chatbot-generated statements that encouraged terrorism.”
While ministers are yet to respond to such issues directly, the government has committed to updating the rules around countering online extremism, which leaves potential scope for new rules on liability for chatbots’ actions.
Key children’s rights campaigner, Beeban Kidron, has also been pushing for updated rules in response to AI. The influential Peer wants to see new protections against the use of generative AI to spread child sexual abuse material and rules for the procurement and implementation of commercial AI technology in schools. Kidron is a strong and capable campaigner who may provoke a response.
Ofcom has started to consider some of these issues in its recent discussion paper on the role of deepfakes and AI-generated disinformation, highlighting that the online safety regime does not cover all deepfakes. The regulator urged “firms that sit further ‘upstream’ in technology supply chains to take equivalent action to address deepfakes”. Ofcom has also committed “to liaise[ing] with the Government to identify potential regulatory gaps in relation to deepfakes and generative AI”.
The government’s commitment to tackling violent crime on the streets includes banning ninja swords, lethal zombie-style blades and machetes. As part of this battle, the government will crack down on online sales of these weapons, pledging to introduce rules in its new Crime and Policing Bill that would penalise executives of online companies who fail to operate within the law.
Bans on the sale of smartphones to children, however, are unlikely to feature in the government’s future plans after Keir Starmer said he was not in favour of this approach.
Nonetheless, the Education Select Committee suggested that it could be beneficial to put their guidance restricting the use of mobile phones in schools on a statutory footing, some schools are already taking their own measures, and the Smartphone Free Childhood Group has become a registered charity and is continuing its attempt to “change the cultural norm that children can get a smartphone”.
The underlying issues will really be, as Starmer said recently, about what content can be viewed on smartphones. Labour will need to have an answer to a groundswell of concerns from parents, and this takes us back to the Online Safety Act.
Aside from addressing these new issues, the government will face pressure to ensure the smooth implementation of the OSA, and campaigners are already expressing concerns that Ofcom is falling short of the mark.
Nearly two dozen child safety campaign groups have criticised Ofcom, arguing that the regulator must go further. The groups request that Ofcom addresses “loopholes” that mean platforms are not being forced to mitigate risks to children; prioritise proactive and preventative safety by design measures by focusing on preventing and disrupting harm earlier; and that it explicitly requires platforms to enforce minimum age limits.
Eight Peers have also claimed the regulator is failing to protect children by not requiring services to use “highly effective” age assurance - such as facial estimation and credit card checks - to enforce their minimum age policies for users.
In response to charities' concerns, Labour ministers have said there is “more to do” on online safety laws. We can expect debate about various aspects of implementation to continue, and the government will face continued pressure from campaigners to take further action.
Beyond child safety we also expect to see a debate about the effectiveness of rules in specific areas such as disinformation and whether app stores should be brought in scope, as well as responses to new and emerging issues. More fundamentally, the government will need to decide whether the designation and risk assessment process is driving change in outcomes fast enough, not least because the Secretary of State is required in law to undertake a formal review of the OSA in the coming Parliament.
Fraud continues to be the UK’s biggest crime, with 87% of adults online having encountered content they suspect is a scam. Labour has pledged to introduce an expanded fraud strategy that will tackle threats, including those online, committing to working with technology companies to stop exploitation on their platforms.
Prior to the election, reports suggested that Labour intended to revise rules to shift liability of reimbursement from banks to tech companies, moving away from the status quo of holding banks solely responsible, and potentially giving statutory footing to the Online Fraud Charter introduced in 2023.
While there was no mention of fraud in the King’s Speech, and this initiative would likely need to be addressed through primary legislation, it may be possible to expand the scope of one of the Bills, such as Crime and Policing, to include action on fraud compensation.
The rise of generative AI and its capabilities to create deceptive content, along with the difficulty in policing all language and images due to the need to protect free speech, could cause the government to assess the need for media literacy initiatives.
Possible policy mechanisms vary, from increased focus on media literacy in schools and education (which will be a major focus area for the government) to new requirements on services to watermark AI content or otherwise highlight nefarious content.
Responsibility currently lies with Ofcom, who set out a three-year media literacy strategy in April this year. But Labour could choose to take a holistic approach as part of its education reform commitments.
A whole host of businesses are already having to contend with the implementation of the Online Safety Act, and the regulatory relationship with Ofcom will be critical over the next five years.
However, it’s clear that further, new rules are on the horizon. The breadth of Labour’s concerns will affect everyone from small to large businesses, online marketplaces, and from social media platforms to AI developers.
Businesses will need to carefully monitor developments as Starmer settles into 10 Downing Street. There is currently a premium on ideas and a window of opportunity to shape how Labour is thinking about online safety with balanced proposals.
Flint’s Online Safety team has deep expertise in these issues from our experience in government, Ofcom and research and we can help you to design an effective strategy.
This blog was written by Charlie Jackson, Lacey Law, Maria Murray and Louisa Bartolo. Charlie is a Director at Flint, she advises clients on policy and political issues with a focus on online safety, AI and data, having worked on several tech policy files in UK Government. Lacey is a Director supporting clients on regulatory issues covering technology and media, having previously spent several years in Ofcom. Maria is a Manager advising clients on UK tech policy, with a specialism in online safety. Louisa is a Manager with particular expertise in online safety, having focused on this during her PhD.