Tech secretary to make statement over X’s sexualised AI images – UK politics live | Politics
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The government has “identified a legal basis which it believes could be used to allow the UK military to board and detain ships in so-called stay-behind fleets”. BBC reports. The BBC said this could mean British military action against some of these tankers, in line with the operation launched by the United States with British assistance against the Russian-flagged Marinera tanker in the north Atlantic last week.
Met chief Mark Rowley rejects Reform UK’s claim that London is becoming less safe
Reform England leader Nigel Farage is holding another press conference today. Last week, he held an event largely devoted to crime in late London, which he depicted as a horrific hellhole where it was not safe to walk the streets. He and London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham claimed the capital had been safer in the past.
Today Sadiq KhanLondon’s Labor mayor is highlighting positive crime figures in London. Like Vikram Dodd According to reports, the murder rate is at its lowest level in the last decade.
Inn He wrote about this in an article in the Guardian. He says:
London’s murder rate is lower than the rates in New York, Berlin, Brussels, Milan, Toronto and Paris, five times lower than the rate in Los Angeles and almost 12 times lower than the rate in Chicago. Last year, the capital had the lowest number of deaths of victims under the age of 25 this century. Our under-25 homicide rate is three times lower than when I founded the VRU in 2019, and hospital admissions for young people for stabbings have fallen by 43% in the same period.
The success of our crackdown on violent crime means Londoners are safer in their homes and on our streets.
Han and Sir Mark RowleyThe Metropolitan Police Commissioner was giving interviews this morning. Cunningham says Rowley should be fired. Speaking to Times Radio, Rowley did not directly criticize Reform UK but said surveys showed people living in London felt safe. He said it was people who didn’t live in London who thought London was unsafe because of the “rhetoric” they heard.
He continued:
London is becoming safer. And don’t judge just by what I say. Casualty departments are seeing far fewer people coming in with assault-related injuries. The number of visitors to the West End in December increased compared to last year. And I’ve seen some recent YouGov survey data where over 80% of Londoners say they feel safe in London.
So it’s not just about my data, people feel that way too. These are the facts. It is not my responsibility that so much public debate is now about rhetoric rather than facts.
Rowley acknowledged shoplifting was a problem in London. But theft investigations have doubled, he said.
Ofcom should exercise power ‘to the fullest extent of the law’ over X’s sexualized AI images, Peter Kyle says ahead of Commons statement
Good morning. We’re expecting developments this week regarding the Grok AI sexualized deepfake scandal, which means users of Elon Musk’s X social media platform can digitally undress women and children. Friday’s announcement that the service would be available to paying subscribers only was taken by No 10 as evidence that the platform had yet to understand why this was so objectionable, with technology secretary Liz Kendall saying Ofcom needed to take action “within days, not weeks”. This was three days ago.
Kendall is expected to make a statement to MPs on the issue today.
Peter KyleBusiness secretary and Kendall’s predecessor as business secretary is giving interviews this morning (mostly about other issues – more on those later) and when asked on LBC why the government was waiting for Ofcom to make a decision, he said:
Because the law requires us to do this.
The law requires Ofcom to be an independent enforcer and regulator to enforce the law. Now Ofcom has requested information from X. I believe X provided this information to Ofcom and Ofcom is currently expediting an investigation into X’s conduct and decisions in relation to operating in the UK market.
Now, at these points in time, Ofcom acts as an enforcer, an enforcement agency, and it needs to use those powers to the fullest extent of the law to keep people safe in this country.
Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom has broad powers to fine companies like X for breaches of online safety rules. In extreme cases, one could even go to court to have X blocked from the UK. But the main provisions of the law came into force relatively recently and have not been used before in a major dispute with one of the global tech giants. This is uncharted territory.
And it is also politically dangerous. Although Musk left his job under Donald Trump last year following an argument with Trump (mostly about Trump’s budget plans), Musk remains a leading figure in the Maga movement, and the duo I had dinner very recently.. In Magaworld, it is axiomatically accepted that European attempts to regulate social media companies are an attack on US freedom of expression. J.D. VanceThe vice president told David Lammy last week that it’s really not acceptable to allow an AI app to sexually strip children. However, a day or two later, a more junior name in the management, Sarah RogersUndersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Public Diplomacy on social media She attacks the UK, accusing it of “considering a Russia-style X ban to protect against bikini pictures”.
We have more information on this in our First Edition briefing.
Here is the agenda of the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer and Business Secretary Peter Kyle are visiting London, where they will speak to the media.
Morning: And shadow education secretary Kemi Badenoch and Laura Trott are also visiting London, where they will record a clip for broadcasters.
11am: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage holds a press conference.
11.30: A lobby briefing is being held in Downing Street.
14:00: Chief of the defense staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, gives evidence to the House of Commons defense committee. He reportedly warned the Prime Minister last week that there would be a £28bn shortfall in the defense budget.
Afternoon: Starmer will give a speech to staff at No 10. He will then speak privately to Labor MPs at the Labor Party (PLP) parliamentary meeting at 18:00.
Afternoon: House of Lords to announce results election for the next Lords Speaker. The two candidates are former Tory cabinet minister Michael Forsyth and crossbencher and former artistic director of the Royal Opera House, Deborah Bull.
After 15.30: Technology secretary Liz Kendall is expected to make a statement to MPs about the Grok AI sexualized deepfake image scandal on Elon Musk’s X.
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