With blocked camera shutters and heavy blurring shields – this is exactly how phones may look under the new under-16’s social media ban if it comes into place by the PM
Children and teenagers are facing an alarming risk of harm online – triggering a major Downing Street crackdown on social media use for under-16s.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued an explosive ultimatum to Silicon Valley tech giants, warning that if tech barons like Apple and Google refuse to introduce tighter measures on their devices, the government will take action – with the possibility of prison time for officials who don’t comply.
Under these groundbreaking plans, Britain is set to become the first country in the world to make it impossible for adolescents to take, share or view nude photos on their smartphones. Ahead of the ban being introduced, we’ve taken a look at how it could work.
What is the ban?
The Prime Minister wants to legally block under-16’s from creating or using accounts on social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, X, and YouTube. This total blackout model is heavily influenced by Australia, where platforms must use strict age-verification techniques like face scanning and digital ID checks.
The UK rollout is backed by MPs and London Mayor Sadiq Khan following a consultation on children’s social media use.
While the exact boundaries are yet to be determined, it could include:
- A total ban on account creation
- Banning addictive features such as infinite scrolling and autoplay to curb children from being encouraged to stay online for longer
- App curfews – blocking access of late night notifications
- Restrictions on personalised algorithms
The move is backed by the Molly Rose Foundation, set up in memory of Molly Russell who took her own life after being served a stream of harmful content online. However, campaign group Big Brother Watch has raised concerns, saying “no one in a democracy should need to show their passport just to get online.”
How will tech bosses block these images?
The main driver of this crackdown is the sudden epidemic of online “sextortion,” where predatory abusers pressure children into sending intimate images and then blackmail them.
Alarmingly, an Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) investigation recently exposed a dark web manual advising paedophiles to use AI “nudifying” tools to strip clothing from innocent underwear shots sent by kids. The manipulated images are then weaponised to blackmail children into sending more graphic content.
To stop this, Starmer demands that tech firms do their part to halt this. If a child tries to take or transmit a graphic photo via their camera, messaging apps, or browser, advanced software will instantly detect it and blur the image before it can ever be sent or viewed.
Do phones already exist with this tech?
Tech firms are legally required to remove non-consentual intimate images within 48 hours of being flagged. Apple and Google have already created AI algorithms that detect nudity, while Meta says it has restrictions over violent and graphic images in place.
Under the new rules, adults would have to go through an official verification process in order to take, send or receive explicit content. The age block would mean youngsters could not access pornography on their phones and tablets.
This blocking technology with cameras is based on HarmBlock AI, a software developed by the UK firm SafeToNet and UK ministers have praised and highlighted as the blueprint that Silicon Valley must adapt.
What happens if a child tries to send a photo anyway?
The PM has given firms three months to voluntarily roll out the software on all children’s devices.
If a child or teenager attempts to send an explicit image, the software will lock down the function. It will stop the image from being created, and potentially freeze the screen or block the camera from taking the image. If the image already exists, the software will intercept and it will become instantly blurred followed by a warning detailing the dangers.
Will parents be alerted?
No. While a severe safety warning will pop up on the screen, detailing the dangers of sharing explicit content and alongside links to a helpline, there won’t be an automatic notification sent to parents. The NSPCC has explicitly warned how automatic alerts to parents could put a child at even more of a risk.
Instead, the system acts as an invisible shield and blocks the harm from happening, rather than acting as a parental warning system.
How will tech bosses be punished if they refuse?
The Prime Minister told the audience at London Tech Week that “standing by is not an option”. He said: “For too long, people have been told that is simply the price of modern tech, that nothing could be done, that government is powerless, that parents just have to accept it.
“I reject that completely because tech should adapt to the needs of society, not the other way around. And so if we’re serious about unlocking the opportunities that tech can bring, then we must also be serious about protecting our children from those who look to abuse it, from the online predators who target our children, and from the sexual abuse that they enable.”
If Silicon Valley billionaires refuse to adapt their tech to protect British school children within the next three months, he warned that ministers will fast-track emergency legislation enabling courts to hand down heavy corporate fines and prison sentences to executives.
