Tech platforms would have to remove intimate images which have been shared without consent within 48 hours, under a proposed UK law. The government said tackling intimate image abuse should be treated with the same severity as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and terrorist content. Failure to abide by the rules could result in companies being fined up to 10% of their global sales or have their services blocked in the UK. Janaya Walker, interim director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said the welcome and powerful move... rightly places the responsibility on tech companies to act. The proposals are being made through an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which is making its way through the House of Lords.

The government said it would close a legal loophole in the Online Safety Act. The government said it would close a legal loophole in the Online Safety Act. Starmer to announce'crackdown on vile illegal content created by AI' after scandal involving Elon Musk's Grok tool Makers of AI chatbots that put children at risk will face massive fines or even see their services blocked in the UK under law changes to be announced by Keir Starmer on Monday. Emboldened by Elon Musk's X stopping its Grok AI tool from creating sexualised images of real people in the UK after public outrage last month, ministers are planning a "crackdown on vile illegal content created by AI". With more and more children using chatbots for everything from help with their homework to mental health support, the government said it would "move fast to shut a legal loophole and force all AI chatbot providers to abide by illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act or face the consequences of breaking the law".

Two of these images were generated using the artificial intelligence tool Grok, which is free to use and belongs to Elon Musk. I've never worn the rather fetching yellow ski suit, or the red and blue jacket - the middle photo is the original - but I don't know how I could prove that if I needed to, because of those pictures. Of course, Grok is under fire for undressing rather than redressing women. It made pictures of people in bikinis, or worse, when prompted by others. And shared the results in public on the social network X.

The UK will bring into force a law which will make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images, following widespread concerns over Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot. The Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the government would also seek to make it illegal for companies to supply the tools designed to create such images. Speaking to the Commons, Kendall said AI-generated pictures of women and children in states of undress, created without a person's consent, were not harmless images but weapons of abuse. The BBC has approached X for comment. It previously said: Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content..

The UK government says it will ban so-called nudification apps as part of efforts to tackle misogyny online. New laws - announced on Thursday as part of a wider strategy to halve violence against women and girls - will make it illegal to create and supply AI tools letting users edit images to seemingly remove someone's clothing. The new offences would build on existing rules around sexually explicit deepfakes and intimate image abuse, the government said. Women and girls deserve to be safe online as well as offline, said Technology Secretary Liz Kendall. We will not stand by while technology is weaponised to abuse, humiliate and exploit them through the creation of non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes.

The Age-Gated Internet Is Sweeping the US. Half of the country now requires age verification to watch porn or access "harmful" content. Digital rights advocates are pushing back against legislation they say will make the internet less safe. To prove you're an adult, you may have to upload your ID or submit to an age-verifying face scan. Members of Congress considered 19 online safety bills Tuesday that may soon have a major impact on the future of the internet as age-verification laws have spread to half of the US and around the world .

'People have got to feel their kids are safe': Liz Kendall has urged the UK's internet regulator to fully use its powers.utomatically'People

There were plans to include measures to force social media companies to remove some "legal-but-harmful" content in the Online Safety Act, before it became law. But the proposals were scrapped over censorship concerns. Online safety campaigners argue the rules around removing harmful content needed tightening to close loopholes in the act. In January this year, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told the BBC he had "inherited an unsatisfactory legislative settlement" in the Online Safety Act. "I'm very open-minded and I've said publicly, I think we'll have to legislate into the future again," Kyle said.

Britain's new laws to boost safety and tackle hate speech online are "not up for negotiation", a senior government minister has warned, after Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg vowed to join Donald Trump to pressure countries they regard as "censoring" content. In an interview with the Observer, Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, said that the recent laws designed to make online platforms safer for children and vulnerable people would never be diluted to help the government woo big tech companies to the UK in its defining pursuit for economic growth. His comments come as Keir Starmer prepares a major big tech charm offensive this week in which he will pitch the UK as the "sweet spot" for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. However, the prime minister will do so with his government facing constant and wild attacks from Elon Musk, one of Silicon Valley's most prominent figures and a leading Trump supporter. Zuckerberg also used a wide-ranging statement last week to reveal he was ditching "politically biased" factcheckers and reducing restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender on Meta's platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

Ofcom has warned tech firms that content from chatbots impersonating real and fictional people could fall foul of the UK's new digital laws. The communications regulator issued the guidance after it emerged that users on the Character.AI platform had created avatars mimicking the deceased British teenagers Brianna Ghey and Molly Russell. Under pressure from digital safety campaigners to clarify the situation, Ofcom underlined that content created by user-made chatbots would come under the scope of the Online Safety Act. Without naming the US-based artificial intelligence firm Character.AI, Ofcom said a site or app that allowed users to create their own chatbots for other people to interact with would be covered by the act. "This includes services that provide tools for users to create chatbots that mimic the personas of real and fictional people, which can be submitted to a chatbot library for others to interact with," said Ofcom. In an open letter, Ofcom also said any user-to-user site or app – such as a social media platform or messaging app – that enabled people to share content generated by a chatbot on that site with others would also be in scope.