Grieving parents say online safety rules don’t go far enough

A group of bereaved parents have warned that the Online Safety Act does not go far enough to protect children on social media.

Bereaved Families for Online Safety have sent a joint letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer, urging them both to pledge to do more for children’s online safety ahead of the upcoming general election.

The intervention by the parents of 11 children whose deaths somehow involved social media comes after Ofcom published draft child safety codes of practice, setting out how it expects online services to meet their new legal responsibilities to protect children online. Online Security Act.

Social media platforms will need to take action to stop their algorithms recommending harmful content to children and implement robust age-checking measures to protect them.

In their letter, parents say this is “an important moment” and that they are “grateful” that the regulation is “slowly but surely taking shape”, that “much more needs to be done” and that “so far they have made progress on this”. Frustrated by the “lack of assertiveness” on safety laws and fearful of the rapid evolution of technology means laws and regulations “must work hard to keep up”.

“Collectively, we fear that Ofcom’s proposed approach may fall short of tackling the increasing risks of grooming, sexual abuse, content encouraging or facilitating serious acts of violence, and actively encouraging acts of suicide and self-harm among young people.” the letter says.

Addressing political leaders directly, he adds: “In the next Parliament, you will have a decisive opportunity to act. There is a significant increase in demands for more to be done. There’s real and deeply felt concern among parents across the country, and you’ll be aware of growing calls for a fundamental reset in the way tech companies design their products.

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“As a senior politician and also a father, we strongly encourage you to heed these calls and ensure children’s online safety is no longer treated as an afterthought.

“Simply put, we recommend making it clear to tech companies that they need to start designing and building their services in a safe and fundamentally responsible way. “If companies are not prepared to do this, they must be made to understand that there is no longer a place for them in the UK.”

Appearing on BBC Breakfast and quizzing Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, parents voiced their frustration at what they claimed was a delay in the introduction of the Online Safety Act as tech companies failed to act and Ofcom conducted a consultation process and published draft codes of practice. The process is expected to take another 12 months to complete before approval from parliament.

The campaign group includes Ian Russell, the father of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who committed suicide in November 2017 after viewing harmful material on social media.

He said tech firms were “buying as much time as they could” by claiming they were waiting for Ofcom to publish all their code before making changes to their platforms.

In response, Ms Donelan said: “I feel your frustration on this and if we could fully implement the bill tomorrow I would do so, but there is some trade-off.

“These are multi-billion pound companies; What we don’t want to do is do it so quickly that there are too many loopholes or it could easily be sued and thrashed out in the courts for years. “We want this to be robust, we want it to be bulletproof to make sure it really works.”

He added: “We have always said that the Online Safety Act is the beginning of the journey, not the destination, and we need to layer on that and continue to build on it.

“What we are doing is really big, groundbreaking and far more than any other country in the world has done in this area. Is the job done? Absolutely not, because our children and their well-being are paramount and we must always prioritize this, re-evaluate and go a little further.”

Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today program that the proposals would lead to “major changes” for social media companies and that the names of those who did not comply would be made public.

“For the first time, legally, they will be responsible for looking at their own services, who is using those services, what the advantages are of course, but also what the risks are,” he said.

“Ofcom will grade your assignments and do so in a transparent manner so the public can see the results and the grades we give.”

Alice Campbell, head of public affairs at trade body techUK, which represents many social media platforms under the Online Safety Act, said: “We welcome this consultation, which is a significant step forward in implementing the Online Safety Act.

“Many covered companies have already introduced additional child safety measures in anticipation of the Online Safety Act coming into force. However, today’s consultation provides important additional details that covered companies will need to address.

“We look forward to continuing to work with members, Ofcom and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to deliver a strong and effective online safety regime.”

Peter Kyle, Labour’s shadow technology secretary, said: “It is welcome to see new proposals from Ofcom to keep children safe online, including strong age checks and tackling algorithms that target young minds.

“These protections would have been in place years ago had he not been a victim of conservative chaos. We can’t forget that the current Business Secretary called the Online Safety Bill ‘legislating for hurt feelings’ during the Conservative Party leadership contest.

“Labour has repeatedly called on the Government to take tougher action and stop delaying key protections in the Online Safety Act. “A Labor government will work with bereaved families and quickly publish a statement of strategic priorities for Ofcom that adapts to the new challenges.”