← Back to House of Commons Debates
Online Safety
08 September 2026
Lead MP
Lisa Nandy
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
EconomyScience & TechnologyChildren & Families
Other Contributors: 35
At a Glance
Lisa Nandy raised concerns about online safety in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
The Minister for Women, Equalities and Early Years, Lisa Nandy, made a statement on the Government's next steps to protect children online. She highlighted the Government's ambition to become the world leader in shaping an online environment that is safe, enabling, and empowering. The Minister expressed gratitude to her colleagues for their efforts to make it impossible for children to take, share, or view nude images online. Since June, the Government has engaged in an unprecedented work programme with Apple and Google to prevent child sexual abuse and strengthen protections for children online. Apple and Google have made significant commitments, including blocking nude imagery on underage devices and implementing tighter safety features. However, the Minister noted that these measures do not meet the scale of the crisis as children face unacceptable levels of sexual harm online. She announced that the Government will introduce primary legislation to require major tech platforms to build in device-level protections for children and to prevent children from accessing or sharing nudity on apps. These measures aim to make Britain the first country in the world to take such actions, and the Government will not tolerate lagging progress from tech companies. The Minister committed to taking swift action to protect children's safety.
Rebecca Paul
Con
Nottingham East
Question
The shadow Secretary of State welcomed the Secretary of State’s focus on device-level protections but called for more detail on the Secretary of State's plans, including the timeline for introducing legislation and criteria for reassessing the necessity of legislation. She also inquired about the aim for these planned protections to apply to new phones and tablets or existing devices and sought clarity on the Government's role in shaping technology for good.
Minister reply
The Minister for Women, Equalities and Early Years, Lisa Nandy, did not provide specific timelines for introducing the legislation or criteria for reassessing the necessity of legislation. She did not provide a direct answer to the aim for these planned protections to apply to new phones and tablets or existing devices. She emphasised the Government's commitment to take swift action to protect children's safety and reiterated the need for tech companies to take responsibility for the content they display to young people.
Salford and Eccles
Question
I welcome the Secretary of State's focus on device-level protections and the commitment to prevent children from sharing nude images. I ask for more detail on the plans and a clearer timetable for the introduction of primary legislation. I also inquire about the extent of the protections on devices, the criteria for sufficient progress to avoid legislation, the Government's role in shaping technology for good, and the status of social media restrictions for under-16s and the need for age assurance and enforcement arrangements.
Minister reply
I thank the hon. Member for her engagement and acknowledge the need for detail and a clear timetable. The Government intends to proceed with legislation without delay but requires time to iron out details to ensure the effectiveness of the measures. I commit to working towards this goal and exploring ways to extend protections to other forms of technology. The Government will act if companies do not meet their social and moral obligations. The social media ban for under-16s is on track with the initial timetable.
Liz Kendall
Lab
Leicester West
Question
I welcome the announcement made by my right hon. Friend and ask for more information on the timetable for proposals on AI chatbots, overnight curfews, and bans on doomscrolling for older children. Together, this package will make the world a safer, better place for children online.
Minister reply
I thank my right hon. Friend for her support and acknowledge the need for a firm timetable. We intend to move quickly on these measures but do not expect to complete the whole package by the end of the year. We aim to make significant progress, including meeting the commitments set out earlier this year, and to have a much more robust and comprehensive package of measures in place by this time next year.
Anna Sabine
Liberal Democrat, Frome and East Somerset
Question
The Lib Dems welcome today’s announcement but seek reassurance that legislation will be progressing regardless of company actions. They also raised concerns about the protection of privacy and called for cross-party discussions on end-to-end encryption services.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State assured the hon. Lady that legislation will be developed regardless of company actions and that privacy concerns will be addressed. She invited cross-party discussions on end-to-end encryption services.
Jess Phillips
Labour, Birmingham, Yardley
Question
Emphasised the importance of the 'take' element to prevent children from taking images in the first place, stressing the need to work with international partners to ensure that the UK's actions are not isolated.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State thanked her hon. Friend for her support and acknowledged the importance of working with international partners to ensure global action to protect children from online abuse.
Caroline Dinenage
Conservative, Gosport
Question
Asked how compliance with the policy will be monitored and what sanctions will be available to address non-compliance, given Ofcom's sluggish implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State thanked the hon. Lady for her work on the issue and committed to addressing enforcement issues through a multi-pronged approach to closing loopholes and ensuring compliance.
Question
Asked for assurances that the Government will continue to press companies to act urgently while legislation is being developed.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State emphasised the need for companies to take their moral responsibilities seriously and committed to pressing them to act with urgency.
Jeremy Wright
Conservative, Kenilworth and Southam
Question
Welcomed the intent and urgency but sought to discuss the compatibility of the individual measures with the responsibilities of companies under the Online Safety Act.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State agreed to meet the hon. Member to discuss the compatibility of measures with the Online Safety Act in more detail.
Question
Children are being exposed daily to horrific, violent content online. Ofcom’s research shows nearly a quarter of 11 to 17-year-olds have seen violent content in four weeks, and nearly three quarters have seen harmful content of some kind. The number has barely moved since the Act’s child safety duties came into force. We need to give Ofcom the tools to deal with this issue immediately.
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right. We are looking at the issue of chatbots and strengthening the law to ensure that we protect children better from all these different forms of exposure.
Question
What more can the Government do to hold tech companies to account and take down posts that put the safety of children and adults at risk through doxxing?
Minister reply
I have had an initial discussion about this with some of the tech companies. The Government are concerned about this, and I look forward to working with the hon. Lady to see what more we can do.
Question
Will the Secretary of State say more about the ongoing conversations that she will have with tech companies while the primary legislative clock is ticking, so that they know we expect them to tackle this issue with the same speed of innovation that they show in bringing new products to market?
Minister reply
We are moving quickly on this, and we want to see faster progress. We will not hesitate to take the action that we need to take or to take action where it is needed.
Question
Many children use older phones handed down by family members. How will the Secretary of State ensure that children using devices with older operating systems are fully protected?
Minister reply
We are discussing this as a Department, and officials are currently exploring solutions. We think there may be some solutions to this, but I am very keen to work with colleagues from across the House to address some of these issues.
Question
Given the financial resources that the tech companies have and the innovative, brilliant minds that they have working for them, will she reassure the House that she will not accept any argument that it is too expensive or too difficult to stop children being able to take nude images and send them to people?
Minister reply
I strongly support that; frankly, there is no excuse. This particular form of abuse is happening in families’ homes and it is often happening in children’s bedrooms while their parents are in the house, but it is not known to them.
Question
Even though we will have a social media ban and there will be device-level protections, I would like to see children’s accounts banned from livestreaming, regardless of whether it involves nude images, because so much of that can be held over children for the purposes of blackmail or abuse.
Minister reply
I am committed to looking at the issue seriously. I will go away after this statement and ask my officials to come back to me on it, and then I will reach out to her so that we can have a proper conversation about it.
Question
We have a massive crisis of digitally enabled child sexual exploitation in the UK. As an illustration, there is a global industry for livestreamed abuse material from the Philippines. The UK is the second largest global consumer and is second only to the US. We will need a broader approach. The Secretary of State is right to identify that technology has disrupted society before. Will she meet me to discuss that?
Minister reply
I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend. We need to ensure that we do not let the individuals causing harm to children off the hook.
Question
I would be grateful if the Secretary of State shared with the House a little bit about how the highly efficient age assurance system actually works. In particular, I confess to the fact that over 60 years ago my parents, recognising that my sister and I were rather precocious readers, lent us their tickets to the senior library, rather than the junior library where we were confined. What would there be to prevent a parent choosing to allow a child to use their phone under their identity, and would there be a penalty for doing so?
Minister reply
We are not envisaging imposing penalties on parents. However, the right hon. Member is right that, as we are already anticipating, with any system we introduce there will be people who find ways to get around the safeguards we put in place. The new systems are requiring that someone have a form of ID to prove their age, which requires a credit card or some other form of ID.
Question
The MP commends the Secretary of State for leaving the platform X and asks if she will make the case to her colleagues that there are many ways to reach constituents through social media without adhering to Elon Musk’s rules.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State states that the decision to leave the platform is personal, and Members of the House should be free to decide how and where they communicate, but she does not want to encourage more people to a site that has become more of a force for harm than for good.
Question
The MP welcomes the Secretary of State’s announcements and presses her on the regulation of AI companions that can expose children to inappropriate sexual content. She asks for clarity on the definition and enforcement of a ban on sexualised AI chatbots for under-18s.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State acknowledges the complexity of the issue and the need to strengthen the approach, particularly in relation to the liability for output from AI systems. She commits to discussing the issue further with the MP.
Question
The MP calls for technology companies to turn on software to protect children in the next update and promises to introduce legislation within the year if they do not.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State supports the urgency of the matter and commits to moving as fast as possible to resolve the issue, without unduly delaying. She also supports the obligation on technology companies to act.
Question
The MP raises concerns regarding highly sexualised images popping up in children’s games online and asks if today’s announcement will cover in-game adverts.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State commits to looking at the issue and taking appropriate action to protect children from those sorts of images.
Question
The MP suggests that it would be better to assume technology companies’ moral bankruptcy and just legislate straightaway, rather than asking them to put software in place to protect against child sexual abuse.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State agrees that it is unacceptable not to have the same level of expectation for the online world as for the offline world, and supports the idea of legislating straightaway.
Question
The MP asks about the steps being taken with the Department for Education to support schools and families to prevent children from becoming victims or perpetrators of abuse.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State acknowledges the importance of the issue and the need to support schools, parents, and families to help protect children. She commits to putting rocket boosters under the national youth strategy to address the issue.
Question
The MP asks the Secretary of State to meet her to find out more about the importance of trying to protect victims who have lost people in suspicious circumstances from tragedy trolling.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State offers to meet with the relevant officials and personally discuss the issue. She also highlights the importance of tackling misinformation and disinformation, especially for young people.
Question
The MP raises concerns about the allegedly robust complaints procedure provided by social media apps, citing examples of harassment and hacking on TikTok and X.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State expresses her willingness to pick up the issue directly with the social media companies.
Question
The MP asks about the steps the Government is taking to address the use of social media disinformation by hostile states around the world.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State mentions measures to develop gov.uk, produce a local news strategy, and review the BBC charter to tackle misinformation and disinformation.
Question
The MP urges the Secretary of State to look at hardware-level protection and asks if the Government will pursue similar robust enforcement against companies like Meta.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State acknowledges the importance of enforcement and emphasises the seriousness of this issue.
Question
As the youngest parent in this place, I warmly welcome the Secretary of State’s leadership and that of our Prime Minister. Will she look at AI-enabled smart glasses, which could be filming our children, and the content from them that is being put online? Will she also look at loopholes in VPN usage—in particular, with app-based browsers—as she looks to progress the measures?
Minister reply
I have already discussed issues around VPNs with officials; device-level controls are one part of the answer but not the whole answer, so my hon. Friend is right to raise the issue. I will take up the issue of smart glasses as well.
Question
When I speak to parents in Bracknell Forest, they tell me of their anxiety about what their young people might be exposed to online and their feeling of powerlessness—they do not feel that they have the tools to do anything about it. Today’s statement makes it clear that this Government believe that the power to act lies squarely with the tech companies, and that they should get on and fix their platforms so that our young people can be safe.
Minister reply
I support my hon. Friend in saying that it is the responsibility of all of us to keep children safe, and we would like to see the tech companies do more—and more quickly. Today’s statement also shows that the Government can do things to improve people’s lives. We are not powerless; we were elected to do that, and we intend to fulfil that promise.
Question
I welcome the announcement from the Secretary of State, but the focus is too often on what young people are doing, rather than on the adults who are grooming and coercing them. Can the Secretary of State say more about the work that her Department and others are doing with tech companies to identify and disrupt adults who are targeting children and pressurising them to put images online?
Minister reply
I saw my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips) nodding vigorously at that point. My hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) is absolutely right, and I am working closely with the Home Secretary to ensure that we come at the issue from every angle and hold to account all who are responsible.
Question
I strongly welcome the statement from the Secretary of State. It is long overdue and builds on great work by her predecessors. Unfortunately, we do not have full sovereign capability in developing our own tech in this country, and we are vulnerable to politics in other countries. Will the Secretary of State tell me what she is doing to work with people across Government to ensure that if there is pushback against these changes, particularly in the United States, and challenges from the tech companies, Britain will get what it wants—not what some people in certain other countries want?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend raises two linked and important points. First, we are the Government of the United Kingdom and are responsible to the people of this country. Although we have close friends and allies all over the world, we reserve the right to take our own view on technology. Particularly when it comes to keeping children safe, that is non-negotiable. Secondly, we have to be on the front foot in developing new forms of technology. I believe that tech, the online space and AI should be—and can be—a force for good in the world, but in order to help create that and be leaders in the field, we have to be on the front foot in developing forms of technology and having sovereign capability. I can reassure my hon. Friend on that point because I discussed it, this very morning, with the Business Secretary and the AI Minister.
Question
I thank and commend the Secretary of State for the Government’s world-leading action. Does she agree that at some point in the future, we are going to look back and wonder how we let the tech companies get away with hijacking our children’s attention and safety for so long? She talks about closing loopholes, but will she say more about what is happening across Government and with the regulators—as well as internationally—to ensure that those who produce the devices and what goes on them all play their part in keeping our children safe?
Minister reply
I think we have been living through a revolution in the way we interact with one another and with Government, compared with when I was growing up. I am going to sound incredibly old now, but I think I was 17 before I got my first email address, and Google was not a thing at that point—it was Ask Jeeves, if anyone remembers that. We have been living through this revolution for quite some time, and it is about time that Governments caught up. We have to ensure that we are on the front foot, helping to shape the society we want to have, not just allowing that to be relegated to the private sphere. My hon. Friend talks about the global consensus, and I think there is a global consensus forming on this. We are seeing more and more that states are prepared to step up and be on the front foot and taking action. We are working closely with our friends and allies around the world, trying to move in step so that this can be as effective as possible.
Question
This is a really tremendous statement—I welcome it, and congratulate and thank my right hon. Friend for it. We have touched on the tech companies. Sadly, we can expect them to push back, and they may get support on the other side of the Atlantic. I encourage my right hon. Friend to work closely with our friends in the European Union who have similar aims to protect their children to give ourselves as much clout and oomph in the negotiations ahead.
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As a rule, I think this Government have taken that approach; we want to have a much closer relationship with our closest friends and neighbours across Europe and to repair some of the needless damage that was done to that relationship under previous Governments. When it comes to tech and what happens online, it is absolutely essential that we work with other like-minded countries in order to move in step, so I can certainly reassure him on that point.
Question
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. Unfortunately, young people and their parents in my constituency do not believe that the big tech companies are taking their responsibilities seriously. I speak to young people in schools across Harlow who are concerned that it is very easy to flout the age verification rules. In much the same way as it is a shop’s responsibility to ensure that no one under the age of 18 buys alcohol, can we make it very clear to the big tech companies that it is their responsibility to ensure that underage people cannot use their software and sites?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend for that point. I think the views of his constituents in Harlow are probably mirrored in every constituency across the country. I want to be really clear about our message today to parents who have been struggling with this matter for so long: you are not on your own. We believe that we are as responsible for keeping their children safe as they are, and we are stepping up to take the necessary action, whether that is through support, advice and training for parents and children, or through the reforms and measures that I have outlined today—we are the first country in the world to do so, and I strongly suspect that we will not be the last.
Question
Democracies face a choice between allowing the online world to be a wild west or stepping in, so I really welcome this Government’s decision to regulate the tech titans that have been putting profit before protection. I have families in my constituency who have been deeply affected by traumas online that have repeated what has been experienced in the real world, and they would really welcome the chance to meet the Secretary of State at the Department. Would she meet them with me so that they can share their experiences and help to shape the legislation as it goes forward?
Minister reply
Yes, of course; it would be a privilege to meet them. I have had the honour of getting to know some of these families—both bereaved families and families of survivors whose children have been harmed because of the lack of action in this space—and I gave them a commitment that I will do everything in my power to stop another family having to experience what they have gone through. I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend and his constituents.
Shadow Comment
Rebecca Paul
Shadow Comment
Rebecca Paul welcomed the Secretary of State's statement and the focus on device-level protections, particularly the commitment to prevent children from taking or sharing nude images on their devices. She called for more detail on the Secretary of State's plans, including the timeline for introducing the legislation and criteria for reassessing the necessity of legislation. Paul also inquired about the aim for these planned protections to apply to new phones and tablets or existing devices, and sought clarity on the Government's role in shaping technology for good. She highlighted the Opposition's push for restrictions on social media for under-16s and requested confirmation that these restrictions remain on course for early 2027.
▸
Assessment & feedback
Summary accuracy
About House of Commons Debates
House of Commons debates take place in the main chamber of the House of Commons. These debates cover a wide range of topics including government policy, legislation, and current affairs. MPs from all parties can participate, question ministers, and hold the government accountable for its decisions.