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Mobile Phones: Children

Asked by John WhitbyLabourDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled Answered 28 November 2025UIN 92736

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing device-level protections to prevent children from sending and viewing nude or explicit images on their phones.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan

Protecting children from harmful content like nude or explicit images is a priority for this government. The government welcomes industry innovation in developing new ways to keep children safe online, such as nudity detection software. We will continue to build evidence about the application and effectiveness of device level controls to ensure we take the action needed to protect children.

We will continue to focus on implementing the protective measures contained within the Online Safety Act, while considering the potential benefits and impacts of this technology and others like it in parallel. Any future interventions will be proportionate and evidence based.

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