bParents of children whose deaths have been linked to social media are crucial voices in the debate over how to ensure that under-18s are not harmed by their online experiences. Two years ago, a coroner’s verdict that Molly Russell’s death was due to “the negative effects of online content”, including algorithmically delivered self-harm material, was a watershed moment. Now Ellen Roome, whose son Jools Sweeney took his own life for unknown reasons in Cheltenham in 2022, has become the latest advocate for changes to the law in this area.
Their petition, which calls for parents whose children have died to have the right to access social media accounts, has gained 120,000 signatures and is likely to be debated by MPs early in the next parliament. While the Online Safety Bill, which received royal assent in October, significantly strengthened a weak and outdated regulatory framework, Roome and the other families in the Bereaved Parents for Online Safety group are right that more needs to be done.
Great efforts have already been made to ensure that parents are not left in the dark in situations where young people have taken their own lives and there is believed to be a connection to online interactions or materials. When the Online Safety Bill was debated, a new power for coroners to access children’s data was agreed. But instead of being incorporated into that bill, it was added to data protection legislation. that bill fell when Rishi Sunak called a general election. The amendment and the work it entailed were lost.
It now seems likely that it will be up to the Labor government to take forward this unfulfilled commitment to parents. Given the anguish of their losses, they should not be kept waiting longer than necessary. Activists like Ian Russell, who chairs the Molly Russell Foundation – which aims to prevent youth suicides – and Esther Ghey, the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, have shown extraordinary courage.
Until now, technology companies have been uncooperative and resistant to pressure. Michelle Donelan, then culture secretary, said Molly Russell’s investigation had shown a “horrible failure of social media platforms to put the wellbeing of children first”. Experts believe many people would be surprised to learn that, even in cases where a young, vulnerable teenager has tragically died, parents have no automatic right to access their accounts or find out what material they have been viewing. Concerns that tech platforms take reputation management more seriously than child safety come on top of decisions like the one Meta made last month to rescind a job offer to a cyber intelligence analyst immediately after criticize Instagram’s protection failures.
In recent weeks, MPs have expressed their willingness to consider a ban on smartphones for under-16s. The Molly Rose Foundation and specialists like Lady Kidron believe proactive regulation and enforcement, not prohibition, is the way forward. But there is broad agreement that, as things stand, more web protections are needed. Ofcom must make rules banning under-13s from accessing social media platforms work. Companies must be publicly accountable for their design decisions and obligated to engage with grieving parents in a humane way. Last year’s online safety law was just the beginning.
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