Mother of murdered teen Brianna Ghey calls for social media ban for under-16s

23 March 2025, 23:18

The mother of Brianna Ghey, the teenager murdered by two school kids, has said under-16s should be banned from social media.

Esther Ghey made the remarks at a screening of an ITV documentary - Brianna: A Mother’s Story.

Brianna Grey was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife after she was lured to a Cheshire park by Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe on February, 11 2023.

Her mother features in the programme which examines the murder of her 16-year-old daughter in 2023.

Ms Ghey said one of the reasons she had chosen to take part in the documentary was to "get answers" from social media companies about safety.

She said: "At this point, I really do not believe that any social media company will put lives before profit."

Read more: Social media companies will not put lives before profit – Brianna Ghey’s mother

Read more: Brianna Ghey killer has bid to have sentence reduced due to his ‘immaturity’ rejected

On her campaigning work on online safety and trolling, Ms Ghey said she supports a ban on social media for under 16s.

"It is an absolute cesspit," she added.

The 75-minute film celebrates Brianna's life and features interviews with three of her friends, who describe the schoolgirl as kind, chatty and funny. It also explores her death and issues around online safety.

The documentary follows Ms Ghey as she travels to the US and meets Arturo Bejar, a former engineering director at social media giant Meta, who testified before Congress about child safety on the company's platforms.

He tells her that people are "defenceless" against harmful algorithms.

The film also features officers from Cheshire Police, who speak about the investigation into Brianna's murder, and videos of custody suite interviews with both killers, who were caught within 28 hours.

Ms Ghey has previously met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and his predecessor Rishi Sunak, to discuss the issue, and has criticised the Online Safety Act, saying it does not go far enough.

She has campaigned for an age limit on smartphone use, stricter controls on access to social media apps, tougher action on knife crime and for mindfulness to be taught in schools.

LBC highlighted the concerns of parents and campaigners of kids’ access to online safety in a dedicated day of programming earlier this month.

Ministers have vowed to keep the Online Safety Act under review.

Meanwhile, a study from new think tank The New Britain Project and polling firm More in Common found that three-quarters of those aged 16 to 24 said stronger rules were needed to protect young people from social media harms, and social media was named as the most negative influence on teens' mental health.

According to the research, which surveyed more than 1,600 16-to-24-year-olds, 55% said social media had gotten worse in the last five years, with 62% saying it has become less safe for young people.

Four out of five young people also said they would try to keep their own children off social media for as long as possible. In general, young women were more negative about social media than young men, and half of all young people said they regretted time spent on their phones while growing up.