Beeban Kidron, the film director turned crossbench peer and children’s online safety campaigner, has written a fierce new book arguing that big tech has taken too much control over daily life, politics and childhood. In Users: How Big Tech Took Control and How to Fight Back, Kidron says the issue is not only the damage screens can do to children, but also the wider failure of governments to regulate powerful technology companies effectively.
Kidron says her campaign began after making a 2012 documentary about how smartphones were changing childhood, prompted by her own teenage son and daughter. That work led her to found the 5Rights Foundation, which pushes for children’s rights online. Since then, she has taken her concerns from Silicon Valley to Westminster, arguing that governments have repeatedly been too timid in confronting tech companies and too willing to treat them as exceptional.
A central theme of the book is child sexual abuse material, including AI-generated abuse images. Kidron describes the issue as deeply disturbing and says she was moved to act after seeing how technology could be used to exploit real children and create synthetic abuse content. She successfully pushed for legal action in the UK to outlaw the use of software to create or share AI-generated child sexual abuse material. She also warns that such images are not harmless fantasy and may encourage more serious offending in the real world.
Kidron is equally critical of social media platforms, which she says have used “too complicated” as an excuse for failing to act, only to demonstrate during the pandemic that they can remove harmful content when they choose. She says the same standards should apply to child abuse, violence against women and racism. She also argues that parents should think carefully before posting pictures of children online, because those images can be copied and misused.
Her anger extends beyond tech companies to politicians, whom she accuses of being seduced by Silicon Valley money and influence. She criticizes governments for failing to stand up to the industry and says too many ministers have treated tech companies as if they operate under special rules. She also warns against a belief that AI and other digital tools will automatically deliver economic growth or public benefit.
Kidron is skeptical about the idea that social media alone is the central problem, saying chatbots and other forms of AI also raise serious risks for children. While she has supported age-based bans in the past, she says no single measure will solve the problem. Her preferred approach is “safety by design,” meaning tech companies should not be allowed access to children unless they can guarantee privacy, respect and protection.
The book also reflects Kidron’s own unusual path from film-making to politics, shaped by her family background and early experiences, including losing her speech for months after surgery as a child and finding comfort in photography and film. She says she no longer regrets leaving the film industry, because politics allows her to fight for what she sees as urgent public responsibilities.
In the end, Kidron’s message is both personal and political: society should stop treating attention as a product to be harvested and should reclaim control over how technology shapes childhood, relationships and democracy.
