“The internet will never be safe for our kids” says Rebel Internet CEO
In the wake of news that Grok AI can been used to make sexualised images of minors, Rebel Internet calls on the Government and fellow broadband providers to protect children from unfiltered access to the internet.
It is six months since the Online Safety Act came into effect in the UK, yet the internet is a more dangerous place than ever. As Ofcom makes ‘urgent contact’ with Elon Musk’s company xAI due to its ‘lapses in safeguards,’ Rebel Internet believes that it is Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that must do more to help families safely navigate life online.
The Grok AI scandal is the latest in an ever-growing list of concerns for online safety. Indeed, research by The Children’s Commissioner shows that more children than ever are stumbling across pornography by accident – some as young as six years old[i]. The University of Cambridge has shown a direct correlation between mental health diagnoses in adolescents and social media use[ii]. Even speech and language development in pre-school children is in freefall due to increasing screen time among under 5s[iii]. It is little wonder that 75% of parents are worried about what their children are seeing, hearing, and doing online[iv].
If anything, this latest horror simply proves how futile the Online Safety Act will be if we only go after the content creators. Enforcing Ofcom’s Protection of Children Codes, which outline measures that websites, apps and search engines must take to shield children from harmful content online, is a futile game of whack-a-mole when ISPs could be doing more of the heavy lifting.
ISPs are not required by Ofcom to take any measures to improve online safety for children, but Tucker George, CEO and co-founder of Rebel Internet, thinks this is a missed opportunity: “Broadband providers have a unique ability to allow customers to take control of their internet access at a network level, but none of the legacy providers bother. Ofcom ought to step in and force them to shoulder some responsibility, just as they had to step in and force providers to be more transparent about their misleading annual price rises.”
By contrast, George claims that Rebel Internet was founded to challenge the legacy providers and give customers what they actually need, including helpful tools for harried parents. All Rebel customers have access to a free Home Wi-Fi app, which includes a full suite of parental control features. These include Content Filtering and Adblocking that can be adjusted for each user, as well as unique tools like Focus, which disables access to certain apps or devices to limit distractions during homework (or indeed work) time, and Timeout, which blocks internet access entirely to limit screentime and doomscrolling after dark. This isn’t draconian rule or helicopter parenting; the Children’s Commissioner suggests that many children actively want their parents to set clear boundaries when it comes to online access[v].
A parent of four himself, George went on to say; “Safety online is too important to ignore, and it’s time for providers to face up to their responsibilities. We can’t rid the internet of its evils, but we can help you control it. While Big Broadband companies think only about extracting profit from their loyal customers, Rebel thinks about the role we play in society and how we can better help the people we serve. It really is time for a rebellion.”
[i] The Children’s Commissioner, August 2025
[ii] Cambridge University, May 2025
[v] The Children’s Commissioner, December 2025
