Bereaved parents fear delays to social media ban could harm children

Two grieving mothers fear any delay in introducing a social media ban on teenagers could mean “more and more children coming to harm”.

It comes after the Lords voted to ban under-16s from using social media services such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, in a move similar to Australia’s last year.

Ofcom, the regulator that oversees online safety laws, is not doing a good enough job to protect children, Esther Ghey and Ellen Roome told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday.

Ofcom, which last year introduced new rules to protect children from seeing harmful or inappropriate content online, said it was “under no illusions there is more to do”.

One Heavy defeat for the government on WednesdayMembers of the House of Lords supported the cross-party move by 261 votes to 150, a majority of 111.

This means the Welfare of Children and Schools Bill must be considered by MPs in the House of Commons.

Technology Minister Liz Kendall announced a three-month consultation will be held to consider the pros and cons of a social media ban.

This will include investigating possible night curfews and actions to prevent “doomscrolling” and will report back to the government in the summer.

Ghey – whose 16-year-old daughter Brianna Ghey was killed in the park in February 2023 Two boys who planned their crimes on social media apps said more needed to be done.

“While we wait, more and more children are being harmed,” Ghey said.

“I’ve talked to you before about my story with Brianna and how much she was suffering.“.

Brianna spent hours on social media, and her mother had previously said that her daughter wanted to become famous on TikTok.

He thinks this contributed to Brianna’s isolation and mental health issues in the period leading up to her death.

“The last two years of his life were absolutely filled with pain, and this is such a waste,” Ghey said.

“We know that 500 children are referred to mental health services every day, and we know that 97% of 12-year-olds have a smartphone, so we need to do something now.”

Australia began to force social media companies to block In December, users under the age of 16 were blocked from having accounts on their platform.

This is a policy closely watched by governments around the world, including the UK.

Australia’s ban has been justified by campaigners and the government as necessary to protect children from harmful online content and algorithms.

Companies including Meta said they agreed more was needed to keep young people safe online, but did not think a blanket ban was the answer, with some experts expressing similar concerns.

Ellen Roome, another grieving mother whose son Julian “Jools” Sweeney died while taking part in a social media contest, joined parents who have lost children due to circumstances surrounding online security at a meeting with the technology secretary on Tuesday.

The 49-year-old, from Gloucestershire, told the BBC: “How much longer are we going to allow children to have unsupervised access?

“I think how much longer are we going to allow kids unregulated access, they have access to everything and I think this whole thing of waiting and seeing and waiting really needs to go,” Roome told the programme.

“Basically, I think if this was a product, it would be taken off the road, fixed, and given back to them. Look, take it away.”

Part of Roome A group of parents in the US state of Delaware filed a lawsuit against TikTok.

Ofcom said since its new powers came into force last summerIt “initiated investigations into more than 90 platforms” and “imposed several fines.”

An Ofcom spokesman said: “As a result of our action, age checks to protect children from pornography and other harmful material are now being rolled out, some high-risk sites are being blocked and child sexual abuse material is being dealt with more effectively.” he said.

“This is an industry that has been unregulated and unaccountable for over 20 years and so while significant progress has been made, we are under no illusions that there is still much to do.

“We will continue to work urgently to drive change so that children in the UK can live safer lives online, and we continue to be grateful for the support and views we have received from victims, survivors and bereaved families.”