Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes

Louise Haigh Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Liz Kendall]

I am sure that Ofcom will hear loud and clear my comments and the comments of the hon. Lady and others that we expect the law of this land to be upheld and enforced, and done swiftly.

[Louise Haigh (Sheffield Heeley) (Lab)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the strength and passion with which she has responded to this issue. Elon Musk is ideologically opposed to the kind of ethical guardrails and safeguarding that the British public want to see online. The update to Grok that facilitated these images was put in place in August, so where has Ofcom been in that time? Does that not reveal that the way that we legislate and regulate in this place is not fit for purpose with the challenges that AI presents day by day? Will the Secretary of State take this opportunity to consider a far more flexible principles-based, responsive approach to the way that we regulate?

[Liz Kendall]

My right hon. Friend raises a really important issue. Everybody in the House knows how long it took to pass the Online Safety Act, and by the time it was implemented, things had moved on very quickly. The question of how we move as quickly as the technology is moving is critical, and I am considering that issue deeply.