A360
Key Takeaways✦ Atlas AI
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Police seek blocking unsafe platforms for under-16s.
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High-risk features identified for restriction.
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NCA reported 92,000 child abuse cases in 2025.
Atlas AI
UK Police Urge Blocking Unsafe Platforms
UK police authorities, specifically Crime Agency (NCA) and Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), have called for social, AI, and gaming platforms that feature high-risk functionalities to be blocked for individuals under 16 years old. This recommendation, issued recently, responds to a government consultation on potential social media bans for minors, driven by concerns over child safety in the online environment.
The police agencies identified six critical features enabling "harm at-scale" that should be absent from platforms accessible to children. These include mass discoverability of children, unrestricted contact from unknown adults, private or encrypted messaging, algorithms promoting harmful content, nude image sharing, and weak age verification.
The NCA reported 92,000 instances of potential child sexual abuse activity online from tech companies in 2025, indicating a growing and more severe problem.
The proposal advocates for legislative action to prevent under-16s from accessing platforms with these high-risk features. It also seeks to empower the regulator Ofcom to enforce minimum age policies and mandate device-level nudity controls for under-18s. This initiative aims to compel technology companies to prioritize child safety by design, addressing what police describe as an online environment that is currently unsafe for children.
