Liz Kendall insists government will 'legislate every year' to keep up with the pace of technology
The Technology Secretary has told LBC that new legislation should be drawn up 'every year' in order to help protect children online and stay on top of technology as it rapidly advances.
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Speaking to LBC's Call the Cabinet on Online Safety Day, Liz Kendall said there is an appetite from MPs and the Cabinet to keep imposing new laws amid “unbelievably fast” moving developments in the online world.
It comes as nearly three-quarters of adults in the UK support tougher action against social media giants to keep children safe online, a new survey shared with LBC shows.
The damning polling of over 2,000 adults suggests almost two-thirds of Brits believe the government has performed “not very well” in tackling harms on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok, despite the implementation of landmark legislation last year.
“One of the things I've always thought is technology is moving unbelievably fast. And it took us, as MPs, something like eight years all the way through to get the Online Safety Act in place. Now it's too slow,“ Ms Kendall told LBC's Shelagh Fogarty.
Read more: Ofcom’s failure on online safety is letting children down
In her first policy move Technology Secretary, Ms Kendall is now strengthening the Online Safety Act by putting stricter requirements on tech companies in order to hunt down and remove any material that encourages or assists serious self-harm.
But she has suggested further legislation will be needed in the future to hold Big Tech to account.
“If we need to be legislating every year on technology, that's what we need to do,” Ms Kendall told Shelagh.
She added: “We're seeing things move more quickly and politics sometimes seems terribly frenzied, but I think sometimes it can be very slow and patience isn't my greatest virtue.”
It comes after LBC revealed today that just 55,000 of the almost £3 million fines dished out by industry watchdog Ofcom on companies in breach of child safety laws have been collected.
The internet watchdog issued financial penalties on six separate companies since bringing in stricter legislation, but only one has paid up.
Ofcom has confirmed to LBC that since March last year, 30 companies have been investigated covering 96 sites, with 23 of those probes still ongoing, covering 79 sites.
“If the fines aren't paid up, we'll see what further action we need to take. Because companies who want to act here have to obey the rule of the law here,” Ms Kendall said.
She added: “Ofcom can apply to the court to make sure those services aren't available in the UK if those companies repeatedly refuse to abide by the law.
“If they don't pay up those fines, I'm obviously prepared to look at what more government could do to make sure we get that money back, because the law of the land needs to be enforced."