Molly Russell’s father says rushing through social media ban for under-16s would be ‘deplorable’

The father of a teenager who committed suicide after watching harmful content online has accused the government of rushing to lift a social media ban for under-16s and warned it was playing with young people’s lives.

Ian Russell, father of Molly Russell, who committed suicide aged 14, accused the government of “deplorable” behavior for allegedly hastily canceling the proposed ban.

He said “sledgehammer”-like bans on social media would only cause more problems.

Mr Russell’s comments come as Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce a social media ban for under-16s, similar to the one introduced in Australia. Reports suggested the government would introduce measures including restrictions on areas deemed “high risk”.

Speaking to the BBC about Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Russell warned against a blanket ban.

He said: “Frankly I am appalled. In response, Keir Starmer has promised to tighten up the world of online security by better regulating it.

“I had a father-to-father meeting with him early last year and he was very concerned and promised me effective solutions to deal with this problem… but as we stand here on the cusp of this announcement, it seems he has broken neither of those promises.

“I can’t understand why he’s rushing this announcement… If he’s playing politics, what he’s doing is gambling with young people’s lives and I find that deplorable.”

Government consultations on proposals to ban social media closed on 26 May.

Last year, the Australian government banned all children under the age of 16 from using social media platforms such as TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Threads.

The Online Safety Act, passed in 2023, requires social media companies to find and remove content such as child sexual abuse material.

Research released this week by the Molly Rose Foundation (MRF) found that 47 percent of girls aged 13 to 17 had encountered high-risk content over a seven-day period.

The report also suggested that only slightly fewer young people now see harmful content (34 per cent) than just before the new security measures came into force last summer (37 per cent).

Culture Minister Lisa Nandy told Sky News on Sunday that banning social media alone was not the “magic solution”, but evidence from Australia showed it played a “significant” role.

He said: “One of the things that the social media ban does and has been shown to do in Australia is that, although it doesn’t stop all young people from going online and getting on social media apps, it means you change that assumption at a very early age to stop the situation where eight, nine, 10, 11-year-olds are going on social media sites because all their friends are on social media sites and they’re obviously at an age where they’re not emotionally equipped to deal with that.”

A Downing Street spokesman said: “We have carried out extensive consultation and will take next steps in due course.

“The Prime Minister has made clear that the status quo is not good enough and we need to do more to protect children.

“This isn’t about politics, it’s about protecting children.”