The UK government laid out plans to ban people under 16 years of age from social media and impose wider restrictions on gaming and live-streaming platforms in a landmark intervention to protect children online.

The measures would cover social media platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and X, but exclude messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the move would “give kids their childhood back”, adding it represents “a line in the sand” as “tech giants had their chance and failed”.

The government is also considering overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18s. It explained restrictions on some functions would remain on by default even for 16 and 17-year-old users, to avoid a “cliff-edge at 16”.

In addition, the government is seeking restrictions on a wider range of online services viewed as higher risk for children, including live-streaming and communication with adult strangers through gaming websites. AI services designed to simulate intimate relationships with users would face a minimum age limit of 18, with similar functions also set to become age-restricted across wider AI chatbots.

The proposal will be brought to Parliament by the end of the year, with measures due to come into force in spring 2027.

The announcement follows a consultation earlier this year that drew more than 116,000 responses. Nine in 10 parents backed a social media ban for under-16s, while two-thirds of young people agreed children younger than 16 should be barred from using at least some platforms.

Technology secretary Liz Kendall said the government was “taking power away from the tech giants and putting it back in parents’ hands”.

Punitive measure
The government explained it plans to use “the same model for a social media ban as Australia”, which became the first country in the world to outright ban platforms for under-16s last year. However, it added it will also “learn the lessons from Australia’s experience” by introducing strict age verification measures that will prove tougher to bypass. UK watchdog Ofcom will be tasked with researching effective age assurance measures, with Kendall adding the government would ensure the regulator has the funding needed to take on additional responsibility.

Megan Jenkins, research analyst at Assembly Research, said the speed of the UK’s decision makes it “highly questionable”, adding the government appeared to have chosen “what feels like a punitive measure for children” rather than making social media platforms “safer by design”.

Meanwhile, safety technology company Privately SA’s CEO Deepak Tewari warned that while stronger online protections are necessary, age checks must avoid creating “a surveillance infrastructure for children”.

“If age assurance is to become part of online safety policy, the industry must put its money where its mouth is: prove that age checks can be effective, proportionate and genuinely privacy-preserving,” he argued.

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The European Union (EU) signed a digital partnership with Brazil, strengthening ties on shared technology priorities, including data governance, AI, digital infrastructure, connectivity and online platforms.

The EU’s Digital Partnerships initiative is described by the body as a “core instrument” of its external digital policy, enabling cooperation with like-minded countries on shared priorities.

The agreement was signed in Brazil by Henna Virkkunen, EVP at the European Commission and Brazil’s Secretary for Technology, Alex Giacomelli da Silva.

According to comments cited by Reuters, Virkkunen said the bloc’s push to secure more digital cooperation deals is centred on a desire to reduce reliance on US technology.

“Brazil is a country which shares very much the same value[s] as the EU. So Brazil is committed to open markets, to secure technologies, also to a rules-based order.”

She added the EU is looking to build partnerships because it cannot stay competitive alone, while working to reduce dependence on other nations for services including chip manufacturing and cloud.

Brazil becomes the fifth country to partner with the EU on digital initiatives, joining Canada, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Data exchange
Through the partnership. The EU and Brazil pledged to step-up joint efforts to promote resilient global supply chains, contributing to an inclusive, rules-based system of global digital governance.

It builds on an agreement struck in January to collaborate on data sharing after finding their protection levels were similar. This agreement allowed businesses, public authorities and researchers to freely exchange data between Brazil and the EU without additional requirements.

The Digital Partnership will now be implemented through dedicated technical workstreams and “high-level exchanges”. A meeting of the Digital Partnership Council will be held in the next 12 months, providing a strategic direction and joint roadmap for the partnership to move forward.

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The UK government is introducing a ban on social media for children and a minimum age for some chatbots in an attempt to shield young people from dangerous corners of the web.

The UK is the latest country to follow Australia in implementing a total social media ban for children under 16, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced. The ban, which could take effect from early next year, will be joined by wider measures that will also prevent children from talking to strangers in online games, livestreaming, or using sexual or romantic chatbots.

"Do we truly believe that social media creates a happy environment for our children? Do we truly believe that it's a place where they can feel safe?" Starmer asked during a press conference announcing the policy. "I don't think I even need to answer those questions, do I?"

" …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Anthropic was directed by the Trump administration to immediately suspend all access to its two most advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, citing national security concerns.

The directive issued on 12 June ordered the AI lab to disable both models for all customers globally, including foreign national Anthropic employees, whether inside or outside the US.

The Trump administration’s letter to Anthropic targeted foreign nationals, but because ensuring compliance would require verifying the nationality of every user, it shut both models down entirely for all customers, Anthropic stated in a blog.

The letter did not specify the nature of its national security concern, but Anthropic said its understanding is goverment officials believe a method of bypassing the model’s safeguards through jailbreaking has been identified.

The AI player stated it reviewed a demonstration of the technique and found it exposed only a small number of previously known minor vulnerabilities, all of which can be replicated using other publicly available AI models without any bypass required.

Anthropic pushed back on the administration’s justification for the suspension. The company noted in the weeks building up to Fable 5’s launch, it worked extensively with the US government, the UK AI Safety Institute and multiple private organisations.

Those tests, Anthropic said, showed Fable 5’s protections were substantially stronger than any previously deployed model. No tester has yet found a universal jailbreak capable of broadly bypassing the model’s defences, according to Anthropic.

It did acknowledge perfect jailbreak resistance is not currently achievable for any AI model provider and stated it disclosed this limitation publicly at launch.

Anthropic adopted what it describes as a defence in depth strategy, combining narrow jailbreak resistance with thorough monitoring and a 30-day customer data retention policy specifically designed to detect and shut down successful attacks.

Amazon angle
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported the directive followed conversations between Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and US officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, after the retail giant’s researchers used a series of prompts to extract information from Fable 5 which were restricted.

Anthropic said it is complying with the legal order but disagrees the narrow potential jailbreak warrants recalling a model deployed to hundreds of millions of users. The company warned that applying this standard across the industry would effectively halt all new frontier model deployments.

Forbes reported some customers are seeking refunds from Anthropic for the disabling of Fable 5, citing a post on Reddit from the company which offers a prorated refund.

Anthropic apologised for the disruption, describing the situation as a misunderstanding, and said it is working to restore access as soon as possible.

AI policy shifts
Kevin Frazier, adjunct research fellow at the Cato Institute, said the episode exposes a deeper structural problem. The decision, he said, based on questionable justifications and made by actors subject to few effective constraints, strengthens the case for Congress to pass a transparent and technically grounded AI governance framework.

“Transparency, fairness, clarity, and evidence-driven enforcement should be core components of AI governance,” he said. “So long as AI policy decisions are driven by a few actors taking action behind closed doors in response to non-public reports, we will be far short of that standard.”

The Trump administration previously took a hands-off approach to AI regulations to spur development and stay ahead of China.

Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order directing pre-deployment testing of frontier AI models, but the order was voluntary and did not create a licensing requirement.

In March 2026, the administration released its national AI legislative framework, a move aimed to create uniform security and safety guardrails while also attempting to pre-empt states from enacting their own rules.

Anthropic is currently on a Department of War blacklist designating the company as supply chain risk and barring it from government use. A federal judge blocked the order for the federal government to cut all contracts with Anthropic. The legal battle is ongoing.

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Sir Keir Starmer is set to ban under-16s from 10 major social media platforms, including X, but not Bluesky, the Left-wing app.

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Telecom Italia (TIM) received a €1 billion payment from the Italian state, refunding a charge from the late 90s the operator has been battling through the courts for years to get back.

The operator paid just over €500 million in a licence fee in 1998 and has been contesting that payment for over 20 years. The final sum awarded to the operator comprises the original amount with inflation and interest added.

In December 2025, the country’s Court of Cassation finally ended a long-running legal row, ratifying a decision made in 2024 to award the sum.

Telecom Italia noted the payment had been flagged in its accounts last year and will “have a net positive impact on the financial position for the current financial year”.

The payment draws a line under what has been a lengthy battle for the operator to get a refund on a fee paid in the wake of the Italian telecoms market being opened-up.

In a statement made in 2024 on the issue, TIM argued courts in Europe had “intervened on this issue on several occasions” with a court in Rome eventually ruling in its favour.

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The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) teamed with federal, state and local agencies to ensure secure communications across host cities as the FIFA World Cup 2026 football tournament kicked off.

FCC chair Brendan Carr welcomed the start of matches yesterday (11 June), stating the commission’s public safety, enforcement and radio engineering experts collaborated with the White House Task Force, private sector communications providers and stadium operators to support robust networks throughout the tournament.

“This event will be an incredible showcase of America’s strength and spirit as we celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday,” Carr said, also thanking Task Force Executive Director Andrew Giuliani and the FCC’s own staff for their work on the effort.

On the public safety front, the FCC has been preparing for rapid interference detection and response during matches, helping ensure first responders and emergency communications systems operate without disruption.

The commission has also been working with federal, state and local partners to support lawful counter-drone operations under the Safer Skie Act and has issued 10 Special Temporary Authorizations for wireless devices and broadcast operations to aid global media coverage.

Wireless interference has been a central focus given the extraordinary demand placed on networks when large crowds converge in concentrated areas.

The FCC collaborated with industry partners to support high-capacity wireless and 5G connectivity in and around host venues, ensuring reliable operations for broadcasters, wireless carriers and media organisations.

To monitor the radio spectrum in real time, the FCC deployed a networked constellation of advanced spectrum sensors across all US venues, to enable remote monitoring and rapid identification of harmful interference.

The FCC is ensuring spectrum requirements for broadcast operations, public safety communications, event security and national security preparations are fully supported at the tournament locations.

It also conducted advance planning, testing and coordination activities with host cities ahead of the tournament.

The FCC noted these efforts lay the groundwork beyond the World Cup itself, strengthening national communications coordination frameworks in preparation for the 2028 Olympics and other future major events.

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European economy airline Ryanair is under investigation in the UK for charging parents mandatory fees to sit with their children. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was looking into whether the seating fees, which may be charging parents for the airline to meet its child safety and disability‑related obligations, are "unfair" under consumer law.

Under Ryanair's terms and conditions, at least one parent or guardian is required to sit with children aged between 2 and 11 when they fly, which the airline calls a "mandatory family seat." This approach to seating imposes a fee - typically £8 (around $10) per flight, according to …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Meta has been ordered by the European Commission to restore free WhatsApp access for chatbots made by rival AI providers while the regulator finishes its antitrust investigation. The rare interim measure announced on Tuesday was deemed necessary "to prevent serious and irreparable damage to competition" in the general-purpose AI assistant market.

This is only the second time that the EU has used the emergency power in more than 20 years, Politico reports. It follows the launch of a formal investigation in December 2025 into whether Meta was abusing its market dominance by banning third-party AI chatbots from its WhatsApp messaging platform. …

Read the full story at The Verge.

China Unicom’s US division warned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) a Trump administration proposal to bar US operators from interconnecting with Chinese telecoms firms deemed national security risks could severely disrupt global communications.

In a filing, the subsidiary stated the FCC’s proposal will “harm US companies with significant business and supply chain interests in China”.

It explained global communications infrastructure is built on a complex web of interconnection agreements between carriers across national borders, and Chinese-funded operators collectivity serve as the primary gateways for traffic flowing between the world’s two largest economies, the US and China.

“A blanket prohibition on interconnection with these entities would fundamentally fracture a critical segment of the global communications network,” the filing read.

As a solution, the unit suggested taking a more narrowly tailored approach that addresses national security risks, “while preserving an open and dependable interconnected global network would better serve the public interest and support the US government’s economic policies”.

In April, FCC commissioners voted unanimously to advance a sweeping notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) which would bar China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom from operating data centres and PoPs in the US.

The NPRM also seeks to prohibit US operators from interconnecting with entities on the national security covered list, including facilities such as data centres, gateways and internet exchange points owned by those entities.

China Unicom filed right at the FCC’s comments deadline which were due 8 June, 2026, with reply comments due 60 days after on 7 July.

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Starmer is set to ban under-16s from social media altogether within days – with fines for mobile phone manufacturers that don't comply.

The post Starmer Poised to Ban Under-16s From Social Media in ‘Australian-Plus’ Crackdown appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

The European Commission (EC) took the wraps off a sweeping new package outlining measures to boost the continent’s ambitions around semiconductors, AI, cloud and open source, as part of a bid to strengthen the bloc’s digital autonomy.

EC stated measures in the four areas will help Europe “become an AI continent”, established as a leader in research, development and adoption of AI.

It hopes the package will fast track ambitions around technology sovereignty and protect European digital independence, as part of a long-standing goal to reduce reliance on the US and Asia.

Starting with chips, the EC said it wants to secure the semiconductor base for Europe’s AI ambitions through the Chips Act 2.0, which is designed to speed up permitting, deepen cooperation with “like-minded partners” and introduce a new excellence label for Europe’s semiconductor regions.

It is an update of the original Chips Act, in force since 2023, which represented Europe’s response to vulnerabilities in the semiconductor supply chain.

Secondly, a new Cloud and AI Development Act is designed to aid the buildout of new data centres, streamline conditions for deploying facilities across the European Union (EU) and introduce a single EU-wide framework to assess cloud and AI sovereignty. The wider aim is to triple the region’s data centre capacity in the next five to seven years.

Through open source, the EC wants to strengthen digital autonomy, scaling up alternatives in priority areas, invest in skills, startups and digital infrastructure while support greater use of open source in public administration.

Finally, the EC put the focus on digitalising Europe’s energy system, pledging to define a roadmap in the sector to ensure data centres are integrated, while building sovereign and secure AI models.

Technological sovereignty
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the commission, said Europe “cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure”.

“This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices. Europe has the talent, the research excellence, the industrial base and the Single Market. Together, we must turn these strengths into technological sovereignty.”

Before the package is put into force, the proposal will be negotiated by the European Parliament and Council of the EU. The commission will also launch a consultation process with member states.

Investment will be made through existing grants until 2028, while future funding is to be confirmed in the next EU budget. The EC has previously estimated a combined public-private investment of €120 billion by 2035 to rejuvenate the continent’s chip industry.

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Ofcom called for a concerted effort from mobile operators, local authorities and other entities to improve coverage across the UK, as it published a study highlighting widespread mobile signal issues uncovered on the country’s railway network.

Its research assessed coverage on 24 segments of the UK’s key railway lines. A good performance was deemed to be a download speed of at least 5 Mb/s, 1.5 Mb/s upload, and a response time of 50 milliseconds or less.

It found EE met those standards on 42% of the lines, Virgin Media O2 hit 20%, Vodafone scored 17% and 3 UK 21%. The latter two are now the same company.

Ofcom noted the research “highlights the core problem that mobile signal from masts on the ground often isn’t strong enough around train lines and that some carriage types are difficult for signals to pass through”.

It also found on-board Wi-Fi by train companies was little help, performing well 1% of the time. This was blamed on “outdated technology” and speed caps.

Goals
Alongside the train-specific research, the regulator published a report detailing general aims to improve the quality of mobile coverage in the country.

Here, Ofcom called for a “national effort” to improve services, noting the roles of the mobile industry, local authorities, central government, building developers and landowners.

Highlighting a binding £11 billion investment commitment from VodafoneThree related to merger clearance, Ofcom expects “other networks to respond with their own investment, and collectively this will be a key driver of improvements”.

Ofcom also pointed to issues with infrastructure planning applications in some areas and the advantage of having dedicated indoor coverage systems within sites such as shopping centres.

On train-specific problems, it noted “competition between mobile networks alone won’t be enough to improve mobile signal on trains, and government is currently considering options for how it can help”.

“As well as providing technical advice to Government to help inform its approach, we’ll also look at whether more spectrum – the airwaves all wireless technology relies on – is required”.

Challenges
A statement issued by trade association Mobile UK on behalf of the country’s three mobile operators welcomed the Ofcom research, explaining it “highlights the unique structural and capacity challenges of delivering consistent connectivity on moving trains”.

Noting building the advanced infrastructure required needed “the right enabling environment” the organisation urged government action through the country’s Mobile Market Review and “planning reform to establish a supportive policy and regulatory framework”.

“Dedicated public investment is also critical to tackle complex trackside blackspots, as commercial rollout alone cannot bridge the gap on the rail network,” the statement added. “We look forward to working with Government and Ofcom to achieve this, balancing the need for major investment with Ofcom’s vital role in maintaining low costs for consumers.”

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened its first spectrum auction in four years, putting 200 licences on the block for bidding by AT&T, T-Mobile US, Verizon and possibly SpaceX.

Auction 113, formally known as the AWS-3 auction, includes licences covering frequencies in the 1695–1710 MHz, 1755–1780 MHz and 2155–2180 MHz bands.

Those frequencies were originally auctioned to Dish Network, which is now part of EchoStar, in 2014 but never made it into service after a series of defaults and bid withdrawals left them sitting unused in the FCC’s inventory for over a decade.

In 2015, Dish Network affiliates Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless surrendered a number of spectrum licences worth $3.5 billion after a dispute with the FCC over discounts.

Last week the FCC and EchoStar reached an agreement which included the latter dropping a lawsuit it filed in a US Court of Appeals over the defaults by Northstar and SNR.

Proceeds from the auction which started yesterday (2 June) will fund the FCC’s secure and trusted communications networks reimbursement program, commonly known as “rip and replace”. It seeks to remove equipment by Huawei and ZTE from US communications networks.

The licences cover territory home to more than 100 million people across 48 states, and two US territories. The auction makes over 1.4 billion MHz-POPs available.

FCC chair Brendan Carr did not hold back in marking the occasion.

“Finally! The FCC is back in the game,” he stated while calling spectrum auctions “the lifeblood of licensed wireless service”.

Carr noted getting this auction moving was the first item the FCC voted on at his first meeting as chair.

“More spectrum means more building, lower prices and stronger competition,” he added.

The auction fits into the FCC’s broader Build America Agenda, which is targeting the delivery of 800 megahertz of spectrum by 2034 under the framework set out in President Donald Trump’s Working Families Tax Cut Act, the legislation which also restored the FCC’s auction authority.

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