Tech moves fast, regulation doesn’t – that’s what the prime minister is now having to contend with.
People invent new technology like AI, new social media features designed to draw you in, new ways to interact online – and in the background, the authorities scramble to keep up.
The prime minister is trying.
Today, he announced the government would close a loophole that meant one-to-one conversations with AI bots weren’t regulated in the same way as social media.
It’s an update to the Online Safety Act that was first shown to Parliament in 2019, more than two years before ChatGPT burst onto the scene and revolutionised how we use the internet.
It took until 2023 to be passed and we only saw widespread enforcement in July last year. There are still elements waiting to be enforced.
During that time, there have been countless AI bots entering the mainstream, from X’s Grok, CharacterAI’s personalised AI agents, Google’s Gemini and more.
Sir Keir Starmer did address the regulatory lag this morning, saying that if a consultation shows a social media ban is the best course of action for the UK, he will now be able to enforce it “within months, not years”.
He also announced a change that means the social media data of young people will be preserved by default if they die, meaning that bereaved families can get answers sooner about their children’s deaths.
But for the woman who campaigned for that change, Ellen Roome, Mr Starmer still hasn’t done enough.
Ms Roome began campaigning when her 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died in 2022, after she believed he attempted a dangerous online challenge.
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Since that point, however, she hasn’t been able to access his social media data, so she can’t confirm her suspicions.
This morning, she told me that because of the campaign after her son’s death, there’ll be “no more grieving parents having to beg platforms” and “no more delays while critical evidence disappears”.
“[But] we must ultimately do more to stop children being harmed or dying in the first place.
“Preservation after death matters. Prevention before harm matters even more.”
She has repeatedly called for children to be banned from social media.
She wants the government to go further than Australia, which recently banned under-16s, and instead wants everyone under 18 years old to be kept from the platforms
“At 16, you’re still quite naive and young. I remember thinking I was very mature at 16. Looking back, I really wasn’t,” she told me last year.
While it considers this, the government faces a challenge to keep up with the tech industry. If it can’t, preventing the deaths of more children will become even more difficult.
