Announces an extension to the Online Safety Act
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Liz Kendall. Source: Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street
Liz Kendall has been named the UK’s new Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, succeeding Peter Kyle as part of a wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle triggered by the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.
The Labour MP for Leicester West takes on the post after serving 14 months as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Kyle, her predecessor, has been reassigned to lead the Department for Business and Trade, while the shake-up also brought the departures of Commons leader Lucy Powell and Investment Minister Baroness Poppy Gustafsson.
First elected in 2010, Kendall has held several key roles within Labour, including shadow junior health minister from 2011 to 2015, and has served on important parliamentary committees such as Education, Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Science, Innovation and Technology.
She also ran for the Labour leadership in 2015 after Ed Miliband’s resignation.
The 54-year-old, whose father held a senior role at the Bank of England, worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and later advised Labour politician Harriet Harman before beginning her parliamentary career.
Her appointment follows a trajectory marked more by political experience than direct technology industry knowledge, similar to her predecessor.
Kendall now faces the challenge of driving the UK’s digital transformation and leading the government’s ambitions in AI.
Upon assuming her new role, Kendall expressed enthusiasm for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the work ahead: “I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be here and to have been given the opportunity and honour to work with all of you. I really believe this department can help build the future for people in every part of the country, no matter their background.”
Shortly after Kornell’s appointment, the DSIT announced new urgent measures to strengthen the Online Safety Act.
These aim to impose stricter legal obligations on technology companies to identify and remove content encouraging serious self-harm.
“While platforms already have to take specific steps to protect children from this dangerous self-harm content, the government recognises that adults battling mental health challenges are equally at risk from exposure to material that could trigger a mental health crisis or worse,” the department said in a press release.
The new rules will classify such content as a priority offence, applying to all users.
Kendall reinforced the government’s stance, stating: “This government is determined to keep people safe online. Vile content that promotes self-harm continues to be pushed on social media and can mean potentially heart-wrenching consequences for families across the country.”
She stressed that social media companies must understand that immediate action to protect users is a legal requirement, not optional.
“Our enhanced protections will make clear to social media companies that taking immediate steps to keep users safe from toxic material that could be the difference between life and death is not an option, but the law,” Kendall said.
However, critics have questioned the likely effectiveness of the new measures as well as what they say about the balance of government control over web content.
“Aimed at blocking ‘self-harm’ content, algorithms will misidentify support resources and content will vanish behind age gates,” predicted the Open Rights Group in a post on Mastodon.
The new regulations are expected to take effect 21 days after receiving parliamentary approval by both Houses.