The parents of more than a dozen children whose deaths are linked to social media will tell Digital Secretary Lisa Nandy to get the “job done properly” after years of failure in tackling online harms. The families will urge her to ensure an upcoming online safety package – including a social media ban for under-16s – includes “tough enforcement so the tech giants cannot wriggle out of it”.
First meeting with Digital Secretary
The meeting, which is the families’ first with Ms Nandy since she took over the online safety brief in July, comes ahead of a “fast-approaching” deadline to set out the details of the social media ban to Parliament. Ministers have vowed to publish the ban’s legislation by the end of the year, with parents waiting for details since Keir Starmer announced the ban in June. It is set to come into force from March next year.
Ms Nandy last month suggested tech firms could earn an exemption to the incoming ban in the UK if they make their platforms safe for teens. Teens aged 16 and 17 also face a default overnight curfew and a block on infinite scrolling – an addictive design feature – to prevent a cliff edge when the social media ban lifts.
Families demand enforceable changes
Among the 19 parents attending Tuesday’s meeting are Ellen Roome and Lisa Kenevan, who believe their children Jools, 14, and Isaac, 13, may have died in an online challenge that went wrong. The pair are among families suing TikTok over their deaths. Other parents include Stuart Stephens, whose 13-year-old son Olly was stabbed to death after an online dispute, and George Nicolaou, whose 15-year-old son Christoforos took his own life after being sent “horrific messages” on an online forum.
Ms Roome, on behalf of the Bereaved Families for Online Safety, said: “For the first time, Lisa Nandy is meeting the Bereaved Families for Online Safety. We are all members of a club no one wants to join: families who have lost a child in connection with social media and for a long time it felt like no one was listening. Now this Government is saying all the right things, and we welcome that. But its own deadline for firm detail by Christmas is fast approaching. To prevent more children dying, it must be met and the job done properly.”
Call for accountability
Mr Nicolaou, founder of the Christoforos Charity Foundation, said “words and promises are not enough” from Government, as he called for “enforceable changes”. He said: “Four years ago, we lost our beautiful son Christopher. He was exceptionally bright, with an IQ of 140+, and loved learning. Yet predators targeted him through social media, and we believe their actions murdered our son. If this could happen to Christopher, it could happen to any child.”
Another bereaved parent, Mr Janin, said he is “fighting” for ministers to hold tech companies fully accountable for children’s safety. He said: “In 2021, I lost my only daughter, Mia, aged just 14, and a few months later, my wife, Marisa. More than five years later, I am still searching for answers I have not received. Alongside other bereaved parents, I am fighting for the State to take responsibility, to hold technology companies fully accountable for the safety of our children, and to ensure independent and transparent investigations when the system fails.”
The families’ demands include harmful platforms and features blocked for under-16s, proper age verification, and tough enforcement. As Ms Roome put it: “Nothing will bring our children back. But we will do all we can to help the Government get this right within the timeframe promised, so no other family goes through what we have.”
