A British artificial intelligence company founded by one of the architects of fintech unicorn Tide has written to every Member of Parliament warning that the political debate over children’s smartphone use has descended into a “false choice” between blanket bans and unrestricted access.
SafetyMode, the London-headquartered child safety technology firm led by Tide founder George Bevis, has used the parliamentary intervention to press ministers to consider a third path, arguing that on-device technology can give parents meaningful control without locking children out of the digital economy altogether.
The timing is not accidental. The letter lands in Westminster postbags days after a landmark American court ruling found that several of Silicon Valley’s largest platforms had knowingly engineered addictive products for young users, a judgment that has sharpened the appetite among legislators on both sides of the Atlantic for tougher action.
In Britain, the political mood music has shifted markedly over the past eighteen months, with cross-party support building for tighter restrictions on under-16s. Yet SafetyMode’s pitch to MPs is that the conversation has narrowed prematurely.
“Right now, the entirety of the conversation around social media and phone safety seems to pretend all we can achieve is either to open the floodgates entirely or to ban them completely, losing all benefits these technologies may offer,” the company writes in its letter, copies of which have been seen by Business Matters.
The firm, founded by Mr Bevis alongside Bertie Aspinall and product specialist Dan Barker, has spent the past two years developing what it claims is one of the most sophisticated parental control platforms on the market. Unlike rival products that route children’s data through cloud servers, SafetyMode’s technology runs artificial intelligence directly on the device, filtering harmful content in real time while keeping personal information off external servers.
The product was built in partnership with parenting forum Mumsnet, whose research underpins much of the company’s commercial thesis. More than 90 per cent of parents surveyed told Mumsnet that current smartphones are not safe enough for children, while 86 per cent expressed concern about the impact of devices on their child’s mental health and attention span.
Speaking to Business Matters, Mr Bevis said the political class risks reaching for the bluntest available instrument. “We are at a turning point in how society views children and smartphones. There is clear agreement that there is a problem, but the solutions being discussed are too narrow. Regulation matters, but it takes time, and it cannot be the only answer.”
Mr Aspinall, the firm’s co-founder, struck a more pointed note. “The courts, governments, schools and parents all recognise the risks. But companies at the heart of this won’t fix it themselves. So the question becomes, what do we do next? On the one hand is regulation. But if we want to protect children now, the answer is simple. You build safety into the device itself and put control back in the hands of parents.”
The company’s technology has been designed to read context rather than merely scan for prohibited keywords, identifying when conversations turn abusive, sexualised or otherwise damaging, even when those exchanges would slip past conventional filters.
For now, SafetyMode is available only on Android handsets. The firm has been openly critical of Apple, arguing that the Cupertino giant’s restrictions on third-party developers prevent meaningful parental controls being built for iPhone users, a complaint that echoes broader regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s walled garden in both Brussels and Washington.
There is also an industrial strategy dimension to the company’s lobbying. SafetyMode is positioning Britain as a potential global hub for what it calls the “safe tech for kids” movement, arguing that ministers could combine child protection with a fresh wave of innovation, investment and skilled job creation if they chose to back domestic firms developing protective technologies.
Whether MPs will be receptive remains to be seen. Backbench pressure for outright restrictions on under-16s using social media has hardened in recent months, and Whitehall has shown limited appetite for technological solutions that depend on parental engagement. But with the American courts now exposing platform behaviour in unprecedented detail, the case for action of some kind appears unstoppable.
The question Mr Bevis and his colleagues are putting to Parliament is whether that action should empower parents or simply slam the door shut.
Read more:
SafetyMode warns MPs of ‘false choice’ on child smartphone safety as global pressure mounts