Internet safety campaigners complain that there are gaps in the UK’s laws including a lack of specific rules covering live streaming or content that promotes suicide and self-harm.
Kyle said current laws on online safety were “very uneven” and “unsatisfactory”.
The Online Safety Act, passed in 2023 by the previous government, had originally included plans to compel social media companies to remove some “legal-but-harmful” content such as posts promoting eating disorders.
However the proposal triggered a backlash from critics concerned it could lead to censorship.
The plan was dropped for adult social media users and instead companies were required to give users more control to filter out content they did not want to see. The law still expects companies to protect children from legal-but-harmful content.
Kyle expressed frustration over the change but did not say if he would be reintroducing the proposal.
He said the act contained some “very good powers” he was using to “assertively” tackle new safety concerns and that in the coming months ministers would get the powers to make sure online platforms were providing age-appropriate content.
Companies that did not comply with the law would face “very strident” sanctions, he said.
He also said Parliament needed to get faster at updating the law to adapt to new technologies and that he was “very open-minded” about introducing new legislation.
