This month's Atticus Bytesize Briefing tech policy newsletter explores the government’s AI Skills Hub initiative, the EU’s new tech diplomacy relationship with the US, the growing calls to ban social media for under-16s, and more.
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AI Skills Hub Stumbles
The Telegraph have done some digging on the government’s flagship “AI Skills Hub”, launched last week with the ambition of upskilling 10 million workers, has quickly run into trouble. The website, built by PwC, is intended to act as a one-stop shop for free AI training by signposting users to relevant courses. Instead, journalists and users found a catalogue of broken links, outdated material and courses that either do not exist or are unsuitable for a UK audience.
Examples include a supposed University of Edinburgh course that is not taught by the university, a Microsoft database ‘course’ that simply links to a product manual, and training programmes requiring attendance in rural Canada. Some courses date back more than 20 years, while others appear to come from low-quality ‘degree mills’ charging thousands of pounds for dubious credentials. One course on AI and copyright law was quietly removed after it emerged that it focused on US legislation.
The political fallout has been swift. Conservatives have branded the project “embarrassing” and a “waste of taxpayers’ money”, while campaigners and training providers have complained that their materials were used without consultation. For a government that has framed AI skills as central to economic modernisation and worker protection, the episode risks undermining credibility at a sensitive moment.
More broadly, the affair highlights a recurring weakness in UK tech policy: inadequate delivery. Pointing to hundreds of third-party courses is not the same as building a coherent national skills offer, particularly when quality control appears thin. It also raises questions about the government’s reliance on large consultancies for digital projects, and whether procurement incentives prioritise speed and scale over substance. Labour may contain the immediate damage, but the episode hands opponents an easy narrative: that bold rhetoric on AI is running ahead of the state’s capacity to execute.
Social Media Ban for Under-16s Grows Ever More Likely
The UK’s debate over restricting social media access for under-16s has taken a major step forward and now looks poised to shape tech policy for years as the House of Lords overwhelmingly voted in favour of an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that would ban social media access for under-16s and force platforms to implement effective age-assurance measures within 12 months. Simultaneously, the government has launched a three-month consultation on possible restrictions that go beyond an outright ban to explore measures such as age verification technologies, restrictions on addictive design features (like infinite scroll), curfews, and even raising the legal digital age of consent from 13 to 16.
Looking ahead, the next phase will see the House of Commons consider the Lords’ amendment, with the government likely to try to reject the outright ban but offer compromises through secondary legislation later in 2026. The consultation, inspired by other international precedents like Australia’s under-16 social media ban, is expected to conclude by summer 2026, with parliamentary “ping-pong” between Lords and Commons likely to continue through spring.
For tech companies and platforms, this could mean significant changes to age-verification practices, app design constraints and compliance enforcement ahead, potentially enforced by Ofcom under expanded powers. There are also implementation challenges such as privacy concerns over age verification data, legal risks around digital rights, and the practicalities of policing access without driving teens to VPNs or alternative channels.
UK - EU Rift Deepens
Over recent months, the transatlantic rift between the US and Europe has evolved from a diplomatic headache into a major structural decoupling. As Trump’s unpredictability on the international increases, characterized by sudden tariff threats over Greenland and his support for a transactional fee-for-service approach to NATO, Europe is aggressively pursuing strategic autonomy.
The media landscape on both sides of the Pond suggests that the shuttered trust across the Atlantic cannot be mended by mere de-escalation. Trump’s rhetoric has convinced even staunch supporters of the US in Germany and France that Washington is no longer a reliable security guarantor. Consequently, the EU is activating its Anti-Coercion Instrument, a trade bazooka designed to retaliate against economic bullying.
This move extends deeply into technology. European leaders are now reckoning with the fact that the EU runs on Microsoft, a dependency that allows Washington to theoretically turn off European infrastructure within an hour. Brussels is drafting Call for Evidence papers to replace proprietary US software with Free and Open Source Software. Over 60% of European tech leaders now intend to migrate sensitive workloads to EU-native providers to escape the reach of the US CLOUD Act. New frameworks like the Cyber Resilience Act and updated Product Liability Directives are being implemented to shield the continent from non-EEA government influence. What began as a trade dispute has transformed into a total re-engineering of the European state, as the continent attempts to build a digital lifeboat to navigate a post-American world.
French authorities launch fresh inquiry into Musk’s X
Following on from its investigation a year ago, French law authorities are again investigating Elon Musk’s X, this time focusing on the platform’s AI chatbot Grok. Prosecutors in Paris say they are investigating a number of potential criminal offences including complicity in the possession of images of minors of a pornographic nature, denial of crimes against humanity and operating of an illegal online platform by an organised group.
France’s initial inquiry into X was launched on the basis of a complaint made by MP Éric Bothorel, who led a parliamentary investigation into cyber-manipulation, and who highlighted potential interference with X’s algorithm. France is not alone in its challenges against X, however, with the action part of a wider plan for EU member states to put legal pressure on the social media platform.
Both Musk and former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino have been invited in for questioning, but this is unlikely to be initiated with Musk calling the investigation a “political attack” and accusing the Paris Public Prosecutor’s office of an “abusive act”.
Looking Ahead...
Over the coming weeks, Parliament will continue to focus on a range of technology and digital policy issues, with the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill committee in full swing alongside wider plans in the government’s digital reform agenda that include revised plans for a Digital ID and progress on public sector digital transformation and procurement reform.
At TechUK’s Future Telecoms Conference next week, Baroness Lloyd, Minister for the Digital Economy at DSIT, and Natalie Black CBE, Group Director for Infrastructure and Connectivity at Ofcom will deliver keynote speeches as the conference aims to explore practical solutions to extend high-quality connectivity to every corner of the UK alongside other pressing issues.