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.

The post UK plots under-16 social media ban appeared first on Mobile World Live.

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.

The post EU adds to digital tie-ups with Brazil deal appeared first on Mobile World Live.

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.

The post US orders Anthropic to suspend Fable 5, Mythos 5 models appeared first on Mobile World Live.