The father of a teenager who took her own life after viewing harmful content online has accused the government of rushing out a ban on social media for under-16s, warning it is playing with young people’s lives.
Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell, who took her own life at the age of 14, has accused the government of “deplorable” behaviour for allegedly rushing out a 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, akin to that introduced in Australia. Reports have suggested the government will bring in measures that include will include restrictions on sites considered “high-risk”.
Speaking with the BBC on Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Russell warned against imposing a blanket ban.
He said: “I’m quite frankly dismayed. In opposition, Keir Starmer promised to tighten up the online safety world by regulating it better.
“Early last year, I met with him father to father, and he was very concerned and promised me effective solutions to deal with this problem…but as we sit here on the verge of this announcement, it seems that he’s not kept either of those promises.
“I can’t imagine why he has rushed this announcement…If he’s playing politics, what he’s doing is he’s gambling with young people’s lives, and I find that deplorable.”
A government consultation on the proposals to ban social media closed on 26 May.
Last year, the Australian government implemented a ban on all children under-16 using social media platforms including TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and Threads.
The Online Safety Act, which passed in 2023, requires social media companies to find and remove content such as child sexual abuse material.
Research published by the Molly Rose Foundation (MRF) this week found that 47 per cent of girls aged 13 to 17 encountered high-risk content during over a seven-day period.
It also suggested that only slightly fewer teens are seeing harmful content now (34 per cent) than just before new safety measures came into force last summer (37 per cent).
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News on Sunday that banning social media on its own is not a “silver bullet solution,” but that evidence from Australia suggested it had a “significant” role to play.
She said: “One of the things that a social media ban does and has been shown to do in Australia is that although it doesn’t stop all young people going online and onto social media apps, it does mean that you change the presumption at a very early age to stop the situation where kids as young as eight, nine, 10, 11 are going on to social media sites because all of their friends are on them at an age when, frankly, they’re not really emotionally equipped to be able to cope with it.”
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “We have undertaken a thorough consultation and will set out next steps in due course.
“The prime minister has been clear that the status quo is not good enough and we need to do more to protect children.
“This is not about politics – it is about protecting children.”
