Salford<\/a>, Mr Kyle told the M.E.N. that criminal activity moving online is a ‘challenge’ for authorities.<\/p>\nHowever, he said that new powers in the Online Safety Act which came into effect last year means the authorities can do more.<\/p>\n
![\"Secretary](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Darren-Robinson-Photography.jpg\")
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle was at HOST in MediaCityUK(Image: Darren Robinson Photography)<\/p>\n
Under the Act, online platforms must remove illegal content or face criminal consequences. Mr Kyle told the M.E.N. that Ofcom, the independent regulator which is now responsible for making sure illegal content is taken down, enforces the Act in a ‘proactive way’.<\/p>\n
He said that intelligence and law enforcement agencies also monitor online activity alongside various government departments.<\/p>\n
The Labour minister pointed to action taken against websites offering ‘suicide services’ within days of the Act coming into force.<\/p>\n
He said the new powers coming into effect next month will also mean that all platforms must make sure content is age-appropriate.<\/p>\n
He said: “The combination of tackling illegal activity and illegal content and making it age-appropriate are big steps forward. If there is more work to do afterwards, then I’ll do it.<\/p>\n
“Am I worried? Yes. Am I concerned that there are pockets that we’re currently not able to find and get to? Yes.<\/p>\n
“But I will keep my foot down on the accelerator pedal until all parts of the internet are made safe and that freedom of expression is always protected, but criminal activity is tackled wherever it emerges, offline and online.”<\/p>\n
![\"Science,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Science-Innovation-and-Technology-Secretary-Peter-Kyle-PA.jpg\")
Mr Kyle said he is ‘looking to Ofcom’ to take action(Image: PA Wire\/PA Images)<\/p>\n
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “Duties on platforms to tackle illegal content and activity under the Online Safety Act came into force in March.<\/p>\n
“That means platforms must take steps to reduce the risk of illegal material appearing, and act quickly to remove it when they become aware of it.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re currently proactively assessing platforms\u2019 compliance with these new duties, and those who fail to introduce appropriate measures to protect UK users from illegal content should expect to face enforcement action.<\/p>\n
“We have enforcement work underway in a number of areas, and have already launched investigations into specific platforms. We expect to make further enforcement announcements in the coming months.<\/p>\n
“From the end of July, platforms will have to start protecting children from harmful content promoting violence, abuse and hate \u2013 even where it is not illegal.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He vowed to ‘go after’ these sickening online spacesScience, innovation and technology secretary Peter Kyle(Image: Jack Taylor\/Getty Images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,188,393,4884,2465,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-168412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114649518069998812","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1_Government-AI-SXSW-London-2025-Conference-Day-One.jpg\")
Science, innovation and technology secretary Peter Kyle(Image: Jack Taylor\/Getty Images for SXSW London)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_unnamed-1.jpg\")
A British Movement poster found in Manchester<\/p>\n![\"Secretary](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Cabinet-Meeting-in-Downing-Street-in-London.jpg\")
Peter Kyle oversees the Online Safety Act(Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz\/Future Publishing via Getty Images)<\/p>\n