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

A group of bereaved parents has warned that the Online Safety Act is still not going far enough to protect children on social media.

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

The intervention by the parents of 11 children, whose deaths have been linked in some way to social media, comes after Offá published its draft child safety codes of practice, which set out how it expects online services to meet their their new legal responsibilities in relation to protecting children online under the Act. Online Safety Act.

It will require social media platforms to take action to stop their algorithms recommending harmful content to children, and implement strong age-checking measures to protect them.

In their letter, the parents say that although this is an “important moment” and they are “grateful” that the regulation is “slowly but surely taking shape”, they say that “there is much more to be done” and they are “so far. disappointed” at the “lack of ambition” in safety laws, and fears that the rapid evolution of technology means laws and regulations “have to work hard to keep up”.

“We collectively fear that Ofcom’s proposed approach will not be sufficient to tackle the growing risks of grooming, sexual abuse, content that promotes or facilitates acts of serious violence, and the active encouragement of acts of suicide and self-harm among young people,” says a letter.

Speaking directly to the political leaders, he says: “In the next Parliament, you will have a decisive opportunity to act. The demands to do more have considerable merit. Across the country, there is real concern among parents, and you will be aware of the growing calls for a fundamental overhaul of the way technology companies design their products.

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“As a senior politician but also as a father, we strongly urge you to heed these calls and ensure that children’s online safety can no longer be considered an afterthought.

“Simply put, we urge you to make it clear to technology companies that they need to start designing and building their services in an inherently safe and responsible way. If companies are not prepared to do that, they should be made to understand that there is no longer a place for them in the UK.”

Appearing on BBC Breakfast and questioning Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, the parents expressed their frustration at what they claimed was a lack of action from technology companies and the delay in the Online Safety Act being enforced and Ofcom carrying out its consultation process and publishing draft codes of practice. before seeking approval from Parliament, a process expected to take another 12 months to complete.

The campaign group includes Ian Russell, father of 14-year-old Molly Russell – who took her own life in November 2017 after viewing harmful content on social media.

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

In response, Mr Donelan said: “I feel your frustration about this and if we could implement the Bill in full tomorrow I would, but there is a trade-off.

“These are multi-million pound organisations, what we don’t want to do is make it so fast that they have a lot of loopholes or they can easily end up in litigation and it’s chewed up in the courts for many years. We want this to be robust, we want it to be bulletproof to make sure it really delivers.”

She added: “We have always said that the Online Safety Act was the start of the journey, not the destination and we need to continue to build on that.

“What we’ve done is huge, cutting-edge, and it’s more than any other country in the world has done in this space. Is the job done? The reality is that our children and their well-being have never been more important and we should always be prioritizing that and reassessing and going further.”

Ofcom’s chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today program that the recommendations would lead to “major changes” for social media companies and that those who failed to comply would be publicly named.

“They will be responsible for the first time in the law for looking at their own services, who is using them, what are the benefits of course, but also what are the risks,” she said.

“Ofcom is going to mark their homework and do that transparently too so the public can see the results and the marks we’re giving.”

Alice Campbell, head of public affairs at trade body techUK – which represents many of the social media platforms within the scope of the Online Safety Act, said: “We welcome this consultation which is an important step forward in the application of the Online Safety Act.

“Many companies within the scope have already started implementing additional child safety measures as the Online Safety Act comes into effect. However, today’s consultation provides additional important details that companies within the scope will need to address.

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

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

“These protections would have been in place years ago had they not fallen victim to Conservative chaos, we cannot forget that the current Business Secretary called the Online Safety Act ‘hurt feelings legislation’ during a leadership contest Tory.

“Labour has repeatedly called on the Government to take tougher action and stop the vital protections in the Online Safety Act. A Labor government would work with bereaved families and quickly issue a Statement of strategic priorities to Ofcom that keeps up with new dangers.”