Livingston constituency MP Gregor Poynton calls for action on Children’s Online Safety
Writing for The House magazine, Gregor Poynton MP has marked his appointment as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Children’s Online Safety by highlighting the urgent need for stronger protections for children navigating the digital world.
Gregor Poynton’s comments come as new data from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reveals alarming statistics about online harms, including a quadrupling of AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery in just one year. The IWF confirmed 237 cases in 2024, compared to 51 in 2023, with analysts warning that such content is now indistinguishable from genuine images.
“As our children increasingly live their lives online, they face threats to their mental health, criminal exploitation, and exposure to harmful ideologies,” Poynton said. “Artificial intelligence has introduced unprecedented dangers, and our laws must evolve to address these emerging harms.”
The APPG, which recently held its inaugural meeting, is committed to:
- Driving policy change to enhance online safety for children and young people.
- Raising awareness of risks like exposure to pornography, mental health impacts, children's decreasing attention in schools, and safety challenges in online gaming.
- Exploring solutions, including moderation controls, regulation, and legislative updates to combat the misuse of AI technology.
Gregor Poynton has called on the government and Ofcom to rigorously enforce the Online Safety Act and introduce further safeguards, emphasising that tackling the misuse of technology is critical to achieving the government’s pledge to halve violence against women and girls.
“The internet evolves rapidly, presenting new, previously inconceivable threats,” he said. “Policymakers must act swiftly and decisively to protect children’s futures. Our work in the APPG will ensure this issue remains a top priority.”
The IWF, which serves as the APPG’s Secretariat, has echoed these concerns, calling for robust measures to prevent AI from being exploited to create child sexual abuse material.