Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly died in 2017 due to online harms, has teamed up with more than 40 charities, experts and bereaved parents to oppose a social media ban for teens
A dad whose 14-year-old daughter took her own life due to online harms has accused the UK of having “lost our head” amid a surge in demands for a social media ban for under 16s.
Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly died in 2017 after being bombarded with harmful content, has teamed up with more than 40 charities, experts and bereaved parents to oppose the “blunt response” to the internet crisis.
He has warned that demands for a ban are politically motivated, not evidence-based and fail to force tech giants to take genuine action to make their platforms safe.
And the bereaved dad – who is a passionate online safety and suicide prevention campaigner – highlighted tragic notes left behind by his daughter as he pleaded with politicians not to isolate struggling teens further.
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A social media ban for under 16s has been fiercely debated over the last week after the Tories pledged to bring in one and after Australia did so last month. Keir Starmer, whose position has softened over the week, said “all options are on the table” regarding the possibility of a ban in the UK.
Speaking to The Mirror, Mr Russell said he fears a ban could force vulnerable kids into darker and unregulated spaces on the internet, like gaming platforms or suicide forums, or abandon them in their isolation.
Mr Russell, chair of the suicide prevention charity the Molly Rose Foundation, set up in his daughter’s name, said: “Sensible debate has been happening over a period of time and now we seem to have lost our heads.
“We seem to now be choosing this moment to rush into making hasty, non-evidenced based decisions. And to me, it’s ambition-led, politically-led, panic-led. It’s being led for the wrong reasons.”
He continued: “The notes that Molly left help us have a glimpse into the way she was thinking, gain a little understanding into the thoughts that she had that led to her death. She said: ‘This is all my fault. I should have told someone.’
“How do you tell the people that you love that you want to end your life? And if Molly had found that courage and told us, she may well still be here now. Bans make that courage-finding and that connection between the generations even harder and young people who are ideating suicide sadly even less likely to be able to find that extraordinary level of courage needed to ask the people that they love for the support that they need.”
Early research from Australia shows one in 10 teens seeking mental health support from the country’s national youth mental health service cited the new social media ban as an issue, according to Crikey website.
Mr Russell said the focus in the UK must remain on tackling the cause of online harms, not the symptoms. He said Elon Musk’s climbdown last week over his AI chatbot Grok, which made sexualised deepfakes on X, showed that pressure from the Government and Ofcom can force tech giants to take action.
Mr Russell said: “What’s really painful is that in the last week in the UK, we’ve seen how effective strong leadership and talk can be.
“It’s taken me eight years since Molly’s death to learn about this, to understand about this, and I’ve done that as a bereaved parent with lived experience, and I’ve listened to the voices of experts, who in some cases have been studying these things for far longer than I have, and essentially, the problem with a ban is it’s treating the symptoms, not the cause. It does nothing to incentivise the platforms to make their products any safer.”
He also said the sudden debate over a ban for under 16s appeared to be politically driven. The bereaved dad criticised Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who previously said the Online Safety Act was “legislating for hurt feelings”, having suddenly called for a ban.
And he equally took aim at Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Health Secretary Wes Streeting – who both have “political aspirations” – for jumping on this “bandwagon that is non-evidenced based”.
Mr Russell also emphasised that the benefits of social media are often lost in these debates, including learning to play an instrument or how to identify a bird in your back garden.
A joint statement, signed by more than 40 charities, experts and bereaved parents and which has been shared with The Mirror, says: “Though well-intentioned, blanket bans on social media would fail to deliver the improvement in children’s safety and wellbeing that they so urgently need. They are a blunt response that fails to address the successive shortcomings of tech companies and governments to act decisively and sooner.
“Banning children from social media risks an array of unintended consequences. It would create a false sense of safety that would see children – but also the threats to them – migrate to other areas online. Children aged 16 would face a dangerous cliff-edge when they start to use high-risk platforms, with girls particularly being exposed to a range of threats from misogyny to sexual abuse.”