UK is going ‘backwards’ on online safety, Molly Russell’s father tells Keir Starmer

11 January 2025, 22:57 | Updated: 11 January 2025, 22:58

The father of a teenage girl who killed herself after looking at harmful social media content has told Sir Keir Starmer that the UK is "going backwards" on online safety.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Ian Russell, chairman of the Molly Rose Foundation (MRF), said the implementation of the Online Safety Act by Ofcom was a "disaster".

He warned that without legislative changes, “the streams of life-sucking content seen by children will soon become torrents: a digital disaster”.

The Online Safety Act was passed in 2023 as the UK's first major legislation to regulate social media, search engine, messaging, gaming, dating, pornography and file-sharing platforms.

It means Ofcom is able to fine firms that do not meet these duties, potentially up to billions of pounds for the largest sites.

In the most serious instances, Ofcom can seek clearance to stop access to a site in the UK.

In December, the regulator published the first set of online safety rules, which legally required platforms to consider the risk of illegal content - like hate, fraud, terrorism and child abuse - and put safety measures in place by March or face enforcement action.

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Yet Russell said Ofcom's choices “starkly highlighted intrinsic structural weaknesses with the legislative framework”, and that the regulator “has fundamentally failed to grasp the urgency and scale of its mission”.

Russell said Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk “are at the leading edge of a wholesale recalibration” of the technology industry.

This week Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, said it was scrapping its longstanding fact-checking programme and replacing it with a community notes system.

Zuckerberg said this would focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying policies and restoring free expression on platforms, but would mean catching “less bad stuff”.

Russell said the move was “a profound strategic shift away from fundamental safety measures towards a laissez-faire, anything goes model”, creating a “bonfire of digital ethics and online safety features” in which children “lose the most”.

A Meta spokesperson said: “There is no change to how we treat content that encourages suicide, self-injury, and eating disorders.

"We will continue to use our automated systems to scan for that high-severity content.

"We want young people to have safe and age-appropriate experiences on our apps – this has not changed.”

Russell urged Starmer to reform the Online Safety Act with a focus on stronger regulations, a duty of care for tech companies and ensuring victim-centred policies were at the centre.

The letter ended: “Too many parents have lost hope that governments will deliver the online safety reform they urgently need.

"Among bereaved families, there is widespread dismay that successive governments have chosen to dither and delay when the consequences of inaction has been further lost lives.

"As Prime Minister and as a father, I implore you to act.

"You now have a profound opportunity, but also a great responsibility, to act clearly and decisively and to show millions of parents across this country that meaningful change is on the way.

“It is time to decisively protect children and young adults from the perils of our online world.”

The MRF was set up by Russell and his family in memory of his daughter, who took her own life aged 14 in November 2017.

A No 10 spokesperson said the Prime Minister thanked Russell for the letter and acknowledged the “immense bravery” of him and other families campaigning for children’s online safety.

They added: “This Government is committed to ensuring online safety for children.

"Social media platforms must step up to their responsibilities and take robust action to protect children from seeing harmful content on their sites.”

An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We recognise the profound pain caused by harmful content online, and our deepest sympathies remain with Ian Russell and all those who have suffered unimaginable loss.“

"That’s why we’re doing everything in our power to hold platforms to account and create a safer life online, and victims’ voices will continue to be at the heart of our work.”