Labour lays down challenge to Musk pledging to go after tech firms allowing online abuse on their sites
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Sitting down with The Independent, victims minister Alex-Davies Jones outlined the government’s plans to crackdown on explicit deepfake images. The Labour government has laid down a challenge to Elon Musk and other social media giants, promising to go after tech firms allowing online abuse on their platforms.
![[Tech billionaire Elon Musk has fired off a slew of messages attacking Sir Keir Starmer over child sexual abuse (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA)]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/07/09/e8b9827b02328019e9aa708afa72c172Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM2MzI1ODg3-2.78567376.jpg)
It comes as the government launches a new crackdown on explicit deepfakes, introducing a new offence meaning perpetrators could be charged for both creating and sharing these images. Sitting down with The Independent, victims minister Alex Davies-Jones said the hyper-realistic images are “abusive, degrading and humiliating”, promising to tackle what she said was “an epidemic of a problem”.
Issuing a warning to tech platforms, she emphasised that Ofcom has robust powers to go after them if there is illegal activity happening on their sites. “[Ofcom] has got teeth, and they’re robust enough to go after them”, she warned – pointing to the regulator’s powers to fine platforms up to £18m, or 10 per cent of their annual revenue, whichever is higher.
There are also criminal sanctions available to Ofcom to force tech firms to take action, Ms Davies-Jones highlighted, saying she is working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to utilise the Online Safety Act to ensure tech companies are held to account.
