The NSPCC’s chief executive Chris Sherwood welcomed the announcement, describing it as a “major step forward in our fight against online child sexual abuse.”
“Time is up for Big Tech. Now Government must focus on holding them to account to ensure this transformational change for young people’s safety is quickly delivered,” he said.
Last month Labour MP Jess Phillips resigned as Home Office minister, accusing Starmer of wavering on whether or not to force industry to introduce device-level protections for children.
“It has taken me a year to get you to even threaten to legislate in this space. Not legislate, just threaten. This is the definition of incremental change,” she wrote in her resignation letter, adding: “How many children were left without a safety net in the time we dilly dallied and worried about tech bosses?”