The Prime Minister also said he would seek legal powers to act on a consultation considering an Australian-style social media ban for under-16s.
Published February 16, 2026
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a crackdown on artificially intelligent chatbots that put children at risk, pledging to seek broader powers to regulate internet access for minors.
Mr Starmer’s office announced on Monday that the government would target “obscene and illegal content created by AI” and call for legal authorities to act swiftly on the outcome of a public consultation to consider social media bans for children under 16.
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These powers would likely weaken Congressional oversight of future restraints.
“Technology is moving very fast and the law needs to keep up,” Starmer said in a statement.
“We work to protect the health of children and help parents navigate the minefield of social media,” he said.
The measure will require all AI chatbot providers to comply with digital safety laws, including a ban on creating sexual images without the subject’s consent. The move follows action against “non-consensual intimate images” created by the Grok chatbot on Elon Musk’s X platform.
Starmer’s office went on to explain its push for broader powers, saying it wanted to act on the results of a public consultation “within months, rather than waiting years for new fundamental laws to be enacted every time technology evolves.”
The measure will be introduced as an amendment to existing crime and child protection laws being considered in Parliament.
The consultation, which begins in March, will consider measures such as setting minimum age limits for social media and banning children from using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access pornography.
It comes as more countries around the world introduce eye restrictions after Australia became the first country to ban children under 16 from using social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
Since Australia imposed the ban, social media companies have revoked access to around 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children under 16.
Under the country’s law, social media companies can be fined up to A$49.5 million ($33.2 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to delete the accounts of children under 16.
Starmer’s age-restriction plans have wide support from his Labor Party as well as the opposition Conservative Party, which also wants to ban social media for British citizens under 16.
While such measures are intended to protect children, they often have a knock-on effect on adults’ privacy and ability to access services, leading to tensions with the United States over free speech and limits on the scope of regulation.
Websites such as image-hosting site Imgur, which created memes and provided images to many popular online discussion forums, blocked access to all users in the UK last year following tightened age verification rules and provided blank images instead.
Some major porn websites block access to UK users without verifying their age.
However, these geo-restrictions can be circumvented by using readily available VPNs. The UK government has said its consultation on child safety will include the possibility of age restrictions for VPNs.
France is also currently considering social media bans for under-15s, including one supported by President Emmanuel Macron.
The bill has already been approved by the National Assembly and is awaiting approval by the Senate.
