Minsters’ threat to tackle tech moguls – but warned Trump could resist measures ...Middle East

Ministers made new threats to take on tech moguls allied to Donald Trump to stop online radicalisation after the Southport killings, but were warned that tougher laws could face stiff resistance from the President.

Sir Keir Starmer said he was willing to further regulate the “nightmares of the online world” after it emerged that murderer Axel Rudakubana trawled the internet for extreme violent content before killing three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and other ministers also promised tougher legislation if necessary to protect young people from extreme and violent content, amid police and intelligence warnings about young men “fixated on violence, grazing across extremist and terrorist content online”.

The comments were significant given the prominent presence of Musk and Zuckerberg at Trump’s inauguration on Monday and as the Government tries to build links with the President. There are questions however over what steps the Government was willing to practically take.

Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation which campaigns on online safety, said the Prime Minister is right to signal a review of the law “to protect children and society from a growing melting pot of extreme and violent threats”.

But he went on: “We are deeply concerned about the growing threat of violent motives and ideas fomenting online, including those which are fuelling a wave of sadistic grooming to coerce children into grooming and self-harm acts.

“Regrettably, our calls for Ofcom to respond to this urgent threat have so far fallen on deaf ears.

“The only credible response can be for Sir Keir Starmer to commit to a reworked and strengthened Online Safety Act that tackles this growing tsunami of increasingly interconnected and deeply disturbing harm.”

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said he was keeping a “very close eye” on whether new laws are needed while telling The i Paper a new digital ID designed to allow people to prove their date of birth when buying age-restricted products like alcohol online could be synced with social media sites’ age restrictions.

Kyle said: “That system… could be used for all legal requirements for age verification online.”

However, there was no indication that it would be compulsory for sites such as Facebook, which has a minimum age of 13, to use it, or if it would apply to other sites where material would be rated for those over 18.

UK In A Changing Europe director Anand Menon: “It’s a difficult situation because of the power of the tech giants and their influence in Washington.“It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Trump turns round and says, if you’re going to do that [tougher laws] then you’re going to face tariffs.“But what has to be said is the Government has staked out a position on this and shown that it’s not willing to be bullied, whatever the power of the tech giants or their link with the Trump administration, they are going to put the interests of the UK and its citizens first.”

Sources close to Kyle have also said the Government is looking at cracking down on social media algorithms that determine how content is delivered to viewers.

Ministers were warned that the reality of taming tech would prove more difficult in practice.

Trade expert David Henig, UK director of the European Centre For International Political Economy, said: “The UK government is going to face the decision over its regulation of US technology companies as to how much it will listen to threats they may issue over how this would affect trade relations.

“That’s bound to be challenge.”

Cooper on Tuesday promised to write to tech companies to ask them to take down content viewed by Rudakubana and said she would bring in laws to restrict the sale of knives online after it emerged the killer bought a blade from Amazon.

She also took direct aim at Zuckerberg for watering down content moderation on Facebook and Instagram, telling MPs companies “have the capability to do far more to identify this dangerous content and take action on it”.

The Home Secretary told the Commons: “An online ecosystem is radicalising our children while safety measures are whittled away.”

Starmer Government may toughen up online safety laws to tackle misinformation

As several Labour MPs called for tougher action, Cooper said social media companies have “incredibly sophisticated technology and resources”.

“They know exactly how to target every single one of us online with things in which we might be interested, and they use their algorithms in all kinds of sophisticated ways.“They have the capability to do far more to identify this dangerous content and take action on it.

“I believe that they should use those capabilities, rather than rowing back from content moderation and reducing the responsible action that they take.”

She added: “Companies should not be profiting from hosting content that puts children’s lives at risk.”

Rudakubana had downloaded the Al Qaeda training manual, which led to a terror charge, while a police search of his home in Banks, Lancashire in the wake of the 29 July murders revealed he had images and documents relating to violence, war and genocide on his devices, as well as knives and poison.

At a Downing Street press conference, Starmer said: “You can’t tell me that the material this individual viewed before committing these murders should be accessible on mainstream social media platforms.

“That with just a few clicks, people can watch video after horrific video. Videos that in some cases are never taken down.

“No – that cannot be right.”

Under the Online safety act companies can be fined a tenth of their global turnover for failing to comply as well as risking criminal action against senior managers

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