In an interview with the Observer, Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, said that the recent laws designed to make online platforms safer for children and vulnerable people would never be diluted to help the government woo big tech companies to the UK in its defining pursuit for economic growth.
His comments come as Keir Starmer prepares a major big tech charm offensive this week in which he will pitch the UK as the “sweet spot” for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
However, the prime minister will do so with his government facing constant and wild attacks from Elon Musk, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures and a leading Trump supporter.
Zuckerberg also used a wide-ranging statement last week to reveal he was ditching “politically biased” factcheckers and reducing restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
He added that he would “work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more”.
While he did not single out the UK, which passed the Online Safety Act last year, Zuckerberg said Europe had “an ever-increasing number of laws institutionalising censorship”.
[…]
“The threshold for these laws allows responsible free speech to a very, very high degree,” [Kyle] said. “But I just make this basic point: access to British society and our economy is a privilege – it’s not a right. And none of our basic protections for children and vulnerable people are up for negotiation.“I was in California speaking to these companies in December. I was there in November. None of this has been challenged. There is a great deal of interest in our direction of travel. I think there is a great deal of suspicion about some countries around the world and the way that they are acting.
“But I think we have not only led the world in online safety, I think we’ve done it in a way which is sensitive and on the side of innovation.”
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I'm not sure they do agree, with Facebook's recent changes it sets them up for a head-on confrontation with the UK and EU. They probably didn't bother arguing with an underling when they are just going to try and get Trump to bludgeon us into submission.
We'll see how well such laws (and the food safety ones) fare in the face off the threats of major sanctions. I hope Starmer sticks to his guns but we might face a situation where the big social media firms (who are the target of these laws) get let off the hook, while smaller British websites struggle to jump through the hoops.
Time to start Luigi-ing the tech industries