Early evening summary
Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, has told MPs that the government will legislate to ban the supply of nudification apps, and that a law to make it illegal to create nonconsensual, intimate images, already on the statute book, will be brought into force this week. (See 4.54pm and 5.05pm.) She was speaking in a Commons statement on the way the Grok AI app has allowed X users to digitally undress women and children, creating sexualised, deepfake images.
No date has been set yet for when a major plan for defence spending will be published, the head of the armed forces has said. As PA Media reports, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the chief of the defence staff (CDS), also told the defence committee he was “confident” British soldiers would be as safe as possible if deployed into Ukraine on a peacekeeping mission once Russia’s invasion has drawn to an end.
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Kemi Badenoch is arguing that the proper response to dangerous material online is to stop children using social media. She posted this on X, referring to her call for the UK to adopt an Australian-style social media ban.
We don’t ask nightclubs to serve orange squash to kids so they can have something to drink. We say no kids in nightclubs.
Social media is exactly the same.
Social media is not a safe for children. Extreme content is rife, and the safeguards the companies have put in place are complex and woefully ineffective.
It’s time to make sure children are protected from adult spaces. The Government should focus on what matters, not banning companies they don’t like.
