UK to Mandate Tech Companies to Integrate Child-safety Protections

12:45 AM EDT, 09/09/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The UK government plans to introduce primary legislation requiring technology platforms and app developers to enforce device- and app-level safeguards to block children from accessing and sending explicit content. In an oral statement to Parliament on Tuesday, Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy said the move follows growing concerns over rising rates of online grooming, blackmail and sexual extortion of minors, adding that the proposed legislation will be introduced "as soon as we can." Nandy acknowledged that cross-departmental efforts with Apple (APC.F) and Alphabet's (ABEA.F) Google have yielded "meaningful" operating system-level protections against nude image sharing, but stressed that the initial commitments "do not meet the scale of this crisis." The secretary added that while new legislation is being prepared, the government remains open to reassessing legal mandates if the technology companies implement the necessary technical protections on their own. Apple and Google did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' requests for comment.