Britain tightens planned tech law to stop children viewing adult content

Britain said on Friday it had tightened protections in its Online Safety Bill to prevent children from viewing adult content.

Britain said on Friday it had tightened protections in its Online Safety Bill that will prevent children from viewing pornography in an update to long-delayed legislation that is being closely watched by the tech industry.

Under the government's latest amendments after debates in parliament, Britain will set higher standards for age verification tools used by services that publish or allow porn on their platforms, to ensure they are effective in establishing whether a user is a child.

Britain, like the European Union and other countries, has been grappling over how to protect social media users, and in particular children, from harmful content without damaging free speech.

New measures will also seek to hold top executives personally responsible for keeping children safe on their platforms, the government said, after agreeing to toughen the bill in January with the prospect of jail time for tech bosses.

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"This government will not allow the lives of our children to be put at stake whenever they go online; whether that is through facing abuse or viewing harmful content that could go on to have a devastating impact on their lives," Paul Scully, minister for tech and the digital economy, said.

"To prevent any further tragedy and build a better future for our children, we are acting robustly and with urgency to make the Online Safety Bill the global standard for protecting our children."