Ministers must act more quickly on deepfakes to protect women and girls, Kendall says
Ministers need to act more quickly to combat fast-changing threats from technology such as deepfakes, the technology secretary has said, as she warned about the risks women and girls face online.Liz Kendall said on Monday that technology was developing at such a pace that it was outstripping the government’s ability to regulate it, even suggesting there could be regular annual reviews of regulations as happens at the budget.The technology secretary was speaking to the Guardian after hosting a roundtable with tech companies including Meta, Snapchat, Reddit, Match Group, Google, TikTok and OnlyFans, during which she urged them to do more to tackle online misogyny.She said: “It took eight years for [the Online Safety] Act to come in, and the technology has developed so rapidly it hasn’t kept pace.Every year MPs have a finance bill to deal with the budget.
In a world where technology is developing so quickly, we’ve got to be prepared to look at this much more, much more quickly.“As a government and as a parliament, we can’t have a situation where you only legislate once every eight years to deal with some of these issues, and that’s something I am acutely aware of.”Kendall recently launched a consultation into banning social media for under-16s, which is expected to report in the summer.She said on Monday that the government would seek to pass new laws after that consultation, though added this could be done without allowing MPs a chance to amend them.Campaigners for a ban believe Keir Starmer is likely to back their cause, but worry that ministers will implement a relatively weak ban that they will not be given a chance to strengthen in parliament.
“They’ll get a vote in the Commons,” Kendall said, though added: “It could be secondary.” Unlike government bills, secondary legislation does not allow time for MPs to amend it.Kendall also recently announced that AI chatbots would be brought under the remit of the Online Safety Act so that companies could be penalised for content posted by AI tools as well as by humans.This followed a controversy around users of Elon Musk’s X using its Grok chatbot to create artificial sexualised images of real people – a capability that X shut down in the UK after pressure from Starmer and other ministers.Kendall said: “The public is right to put pressure on the government to say we want our kids to be safe, as women, to take these awful images down.
Grok started spreading those appalling images, we stood up and stood firm and said it’s against our values, it’s against the law and we won’t be bullied by anyone in protecting women and girls, and then X acted.”“I hope what we did on Grok shows how utterly determined the prime minister is and I am too.”Children’s online safety will be debated in parliament on Wednesday when MPs on the Commons science, innovation and technology committee will hear from the eSafety commissioner from Australia and health campaigners and parent groups on whether social media access should be banned for under-16s.
Cheltenham festival day one: The New Lion can roar in Champion Hurdle
Lossiemouth’s presence means the selection is an attractive bet to follow up last year’s novice win at this meetingThe sporting decision to send Lossiemouth, the Mares’ Hurdle winner for the last two seasons, in against all-comers in Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle adds considerably to the depth of the competition, but it has also prompted a minor drift in the price of The New Lion and he is an attractive bet to follow up last year’s novice win at this meeting.Unlike the other three runners at single-figure odds for Tuesday’s feature event, The New Lion does not benefit from a 7lb mares’ allowance. While Brighterdaysahead, Golden Ace and Lossiemouth have 12, 12 and 17 runs behind them respectively, however, The New Lion has just half a dozen, with five wins and just one defeat when he made an uncharacteristic jumping error at Newcastle in December.The three mares also have some questions to answer. Lossiemouth was below her best behind Brighterdaysahead at Leopardstown last time and has first-time cheekpieces on Tuesday, while Brighterdaysahead ran no sort of race in last year’s Champion
Verdict on the start of F1’s new era: five talking points from the Australian GP
The pre-season favourites had done their level best to play down their expected advantage in the buildup to the Australian Grand Prix, but it was impossible to hide. A dominant one-two by the best part of a second for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in qualifying was followed by a similarly assured one-two finish in the race.Russell had to fight in the opening phases against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, but once he had been extricated from that battle and could return to what engineers consider the “optimal” lap according to the new diktats of power deployment and recharging he had as much as 0.3sec to 0.4 on Ferrari
Zac Lomax exits limbo via defection as latest NRL star lured by Wallabies jersey | Angus Fontaine
After a tough two decades, Australian rugby’s luck is suddenly on the up. The defection of NRL flyer Zac Lomax gives the Wallabies a powerful new weapon in the moonshot quest to win a home World Cup in 2027. The 26-year-old NSW State of Origin and Kangaroos star on Monday signed a two-year deal with Rugby Australia (RA) to join the Perth-based Western Force and could debut in Super Rugby Pacific later in March.“Zac is a superb athlete with a proven record at representative level in rugby league and we believe he has the talent and drive to make a successful transition to rugby,” RA chief executive Phil Waugh said on Monday, as he welcomed the 133-game international winger back to rugby union. “He brings a unique set of experiences and skills to our environment and is motivated by the challenge of competing on the global stage
Russia flag raised and national anthem played after first gold at Winter Paralympics
The Russian national anthem has been played at the Paralympics for the first time since 2014 as the skier Varvara Voronchikhina claimed gold in the women’s super-G standing.A tearful Voronchikhina received her medal on Monday afternoon, and the Russian flag was raised, after a dominant performance on the slopes of the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre. A watching crowd of international fans responded only with polite applause, but Voronchikhina’s success has already been celebrated by Russia’s sports minister.Voronchikhina finished 1.96sec clear of the French racer Aurélie Richard in the giant slalom event
Sky Brown wins second skateboarding world title at rain-hit event in Brazil
Briton, 17, wins her second park crown in São PauloEvent was cut at halfway due to recurrent rainfallBritain’s Sky Brown celebrated International Women’s Day by becoming a skateboarding world champion for the second time at a rain-curtailed park competition in São Paulo.The two-time Olympic bronze medallist was leading in Brazil after two runs, the halfway point, at which World Skate deemed “adverse weather conditions and recurrent rainfall” to have called time on proceedings.World Skate had given a 7pm (11pm GMT) deadline for Sunday’s competition to recommence, stating that “if any weather-related interruption occurs, the activity will not resume”.Only one competitor, Cocona Hiraki of Japan, managed to start a third run, before more falling rain forced officials to end the competition.Brown’s score of 88
England handed tough Six Nations 2027 opener with Friday night trip to Dublin
England will begin their Six Nations campaign on a Friday for the first time in 12 years in 2027 after they were handed an opening night trip to Dublin to face Ireland by tournament organisers.Ireland will also host the final match of next year’s Super Saturday with organisers pitching Andy Farrell’s side against France in the 8.10pm kick-off. Ireland and France have won the last four editions of the Six Nations between them and both are in the hunt, along with Scotland, for the title this year with one round remaining.In 2015, England overcame Wales in Cardiff in a fraught Friday-night encounter that is memorable for a tunnel stand-off before kick-off when the captain Chris Robshaw refused to lead his team out on to the field until Wales were ready to avoid being left standing around
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