‘Outrage’ is driving rapid social media law changes – Baroness Kidron

A film producer and children’s rights campaigner has warned that online safety campaigners are “not winning the debate” but “outrage” is leading to changes in the law.

Baroness Kidron, founder of digital child safety organization 5Rights, told the Press Association that recently passed laws had failed to meet campaigners’ expectations.

Ellen Roome, who believes her 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died while embarking on an online challenge, also said the families had spent “years fighting for answers that should never have been denied”.

The Crime and Policing Bill will be debated in the Lords on Tuesday and Lady Kidron has proposed a series of amendments to better protect social media data that could be useful to authorities investigating a child’s death.

The crossbench member also voted to ban social media for under-16s last Wednesday as part of the Child Welfare and Schools Bill.

But he called on the Lords for a “better solution than a ban” that addresses the “root-based harms” while still providing children with internet access.

The government is consulting on measures to improve children’s welfare online, which could include minimum age restrictions for accessing social media and removing features deemed addictive.

“We are winning the crisis; it is a crisis,” said Lady Kidron.

“I don’t think we really won the argument.

“What we do is earn the anger.

“And the Government will probably do the wrong thing out of political expediency, which is to simply impose a ban without considering the political context or the regulatory context.”

Lady Kidron, who has appeared in films such as Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, said she voted for the children’s social media ban because lawmakers “need to do something” to protect their welfare.

Noting that some digital platforms “were a toy, a refrigerator, or an airbag, they would have been recalled by now”, he said, adding that tech firms had “created a state of exception that has essentially translated into a lack of responsibility”.

Ofcom can already tell social media companies to retain data about a deceased child if requested by the coroner.

But Lady Kidron said this new mechanism “didn’t work” because coroners and investigators were unaware of Online Safety Act powers.

It called for these data protection notifications to be automated.

He said: “Whatever the circumstances surrounding a child’s death, the coroner, police and parents need to know what happened.

“This isn’t about putting the blame on another user, site, or child. It’s about having the information necessary to be able to make a conclusion about what the contributing factors are.

“And I think there’s a fundamental problem here; I think we used to perceive the virtual world as ‘other’ and ‘different’, but the virtual world is increasingly intertwined with the real world, and certainly for young people.

“And the same rules apply; if someone dies, you look around the room, look at what they’ve been doing for the last few days, etc.

“The same rules should apply online.

“So I think people get confused by the word ‘data,’ but data is not ‘data,’ data is ‘information.’ These are the conditions.”

Ms Roome told PA: “Things are moving faster now because the extent of the damage has become impossible to ignore.

“Too many children were injured or lost, and after Jools’ death, many families, including mine, spent years fighting for answers that should never have been denied.

“Progress is welcome but still not fast enough.

“The law only protects children if they are actually used, and currently vital digital evidence is still being lost in the first hours after a child’s death.

“Until data is automatically protected and investigations are digitally competent from the start, we will continue to react rather than prevent tragedy, and social media companies will be left out of accountability because evidence of what children were shown no longer exists.”

A Government spokesman said: “We have been clear and we will take action to ensure children have a healthy relationship with mobile phones and social media.

“This is a complex issue for which there is no consensus and it is important that we get this right. That is why we are launching a consultation to hear the views of experts, parents and young people to ensure we take the best approach based on the latest evidence.

“Families who have had the devastating loss of a child should never feel like the system is working against them.

“The Online Safety Act therefore forces companies to share data and cooperate fully with coroners’ investigations where there is evidence of a link between a child’s death and social media use.

“We have further strengthened this by giving coroners the power to require platforms to immediately preserve data so vital evidence cannot be deleted. We will continue to monitor these powers and will not hesitate to take action where the evidence shows we need to go further.”