The post UK Prime Minister Seeks New Powers to Regulate AI Chatbots as Child Safety Concerns Mount appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

In brief The new powers would ban under-16s from social media, restrict infinite scroll and autoplay, and limit children’s access to VPNs. Former PM Rishi Sunak warned the UK risks becoming “a theme park for historically curious tourists” without faster AI adoption. U.S. attorney Preston Byrne said the GRANITE Act, a proposed American shield law against foreign censorship orders, would be used to counter any UK attempt to target U.S. VPN providers. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he will go to Parliament to seek new powers to regulate AI chatbots, and he’s ready for a fight with the companies that have refused to act. In a Substack addressed directly to the public, Starmer said the government would tighten existing online safety laws to ensure AI chatbot providers are “firmly in scope,” building on a recent ban on nudification apps and the criminalization of non-consensual intimate images. “No social media platform should get a free pass when it comes to protecting our kids,” Starmer posted on X. “That’s why I’m taking action.”  Pending public consultation, the proposed powers would allow the government to set age limits for social media, block features such as autoplay and endless scroll that keep children “hooked to their screens.” It would also restrict VPN access for minors seeking to circumvent age limits. “Unlike the Tories, who took years to pass the Online Safety Act, we will take powers that would allow us to implement a minimum age for social media in a matter of months to prevent kids from accessing harmful social media,” Starmer wrote. The announcements come amid international alarm over xAI’s Grok chatbot, after the Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated it generated 23,338 sexualized images of children in just 11 days, roughly one every 41 seconds. Evin McMullen, co-founder and CEO…

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Filed under: News - @ February 16, 2026 5:14 am