Labour has given up the fight to protect children online

Telegraph

3 days ago

The biggest risk to children online today isn't just the content – it's political complacency. The inertia after the cameras stop rolling is why Britain risks wasting the most powerful child protection framework we've ever had.
The Online Safety Act was never intended to be the final word. It was the legal scaffolding for a safer digital world – the moment Britain declared that childhood should not be collateral damage in the age of algorithms.
As the minister who rewrote and led the Act through Parliament, I knew we weren't solving everything overnight. This was always about laying a foundation that was designed to be layered upon and adapted as technology evolved. The test now isn't whether we passed a law. It's whether we're willing to finish what we started.
Children are just a few clicks away from adulthood and from the worst corners of the internet. That's the digital reality. As a mum, I see the urgency of this every day. We are the first generation of parents dealing with these issues – trying to protect our children from risks that didn't exist when we were growing up.
And yet too often, both tech companies and governments have treated online safety as an optional extra. I was driven to change that and in passing the Act, the UK became a global first-mover, not just on principle but on enforcement power.
Ofcom now holds the regulatory pen. Yes, it's a sprawling regulator with too many hats but when it comes to online safety, it has the money, the mandate, the time, and the tools. Its recently published codes are a massive step forward but they remain cautious and overly corporate-friendly.
It is time for Ofcom to wake up to the fact it needs to be visibly and unapologetically on the side of children, even when that makes the tech giants uncomfortable.
But enforcement alone isn't enough. Legislation without political leadership is scaffolding without structure. And this is where the current Government is failing.
The Act was designed to be layered upon – so why is this Government running away from such an important topic? It's ducking the next phase.
It should be tackling device-level controls, banning smartphones in schools and launching an evidence-based review about the age of digital consent. And that's just for a start. Ministers talk a good game but each day without action is another day our children remain exposed.
This is not about censorship or anti-tech scaremongering – this is about children. Real children – perhaps someone you know, or worse, your own – facing serious harm every single day. We protect them in the real world with seatbelts, safeguarding laws and age limits; yet online, we are still playing catch-up.
The legal framework is in place but now it must be built upon – boldly, urgently and without excuses. Instead, it feels like the topic is constantly being kicked into the long grass – as if simply 'looking at it' counts as action.
Take Labour's refusal to back a private member's Bill proposing a higher age of digital consent. Rather than engage with the principle or contribute constructively, they dodged the debate entirely. For a party that claims to prioritise child safety, their
reluctance to take on the tech giants speaks volumes.
This is not a fringe issue. It's a defining test of modern policymaking: can we create a digital environment that enables connection and creativity without sacrificing the wellbeing of an entire generation?
I remember the final stretch of the Bill. My son was only four days old when I was back in meetings with officials, peers and advisers – making sure the legislation couldn't be watered down and remained workable. I felt the crushing guilt of missing time with him on those first days but I also knew the guilt I'd feel if I didn't do my part to protect the world he was growing up in.
Because this isn't theoretical. Children are still being served suicide content by design. Still being bombarded with anorexia videos. Still being targeted through algorithmic systems optimised not for safety, but for engagement.
We need Labour to recognise that online safety is not a one-off legislative win, but a policy frontier that must be actively governed and continuously reformed.
Just as we don't set national security or public health policy and then walk away, online safety must be treated as a live, evolving challenge – one that demands cross-departmental focus, long-term investment and consistent ministerial ownership.
We created a minimum floor, not a ceiling. The Act was never meant to be the end of the conversation – it was meant to start it. A modern online safety strategy must evolve constantly: reflecting new risks, reviewing age thresholds, investing in digital resilience and delivering on our promises to families.
Anything less isn't just complacency – it's a failure of duty. And families across the UK deserve better.