Bereaved families feel let down by ‘watered down’ online safety laws

Groups who support bereaved parents of children whose deaths are linked to social media have warned the Government is letting them down over its plans to water down online safety laws.

In June, the Government announced plans to give coroners new powers to access information on bereaved families’ loved ones held by tech companies, where there is a reasonable suspicion that the online world is relevant to their deaths.

But under the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill – set to be debated in Parliament next week – this provision would be amended so it only applies to children who have died by suicide, not children who have died in other ways like being murdered.

Suicide prevention charity the Molly Rose Foundation (MRF) called on No 10 to strengthen the policy as it believes it would prevent a coroner establishing the full circumstances of a child’s death.

In a letter to Rishi Sunak on Friday, Bereaved Families for Online Safety (BFONS), a group formed by parents of children whose death has been linked to social media, described the new proposals as a betrayal, The Telegraph reports.

Andy Burrows, an adviser to the MRF, called on Science Secretary Michelle Donelan to “listen to families” who are “keen to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself”.

He said: “This appears to be a new set of proposals that would not prevent other ways social media could lead to a child’s death. For example, grooming and murder.

“It appears to be a watered down set of promises.

“The Government has an opportunity to listen to a clear message from bereaved families who don’t want anyone to experience what they have in the last few years.

“If they don’t revise this, then we would all feel let down. The ball is in their court. No-one can assume that the cause of death will be self-evident at the time it happens.

“Only the coroner needs to decide if a regulated company may have information relevant to the death of a child.”

The MRF is named in honour of Molly Russell, who ended her own life aged 14, after viewing suicide and other harmful content online and was set up by her father.

In its letter BFONS described the new proposals as a betrayal, and wrote: “Our lived experience is that coroners and police have persistently failed to get hold of the necessary data from tech companies for their investigations. This routine failure is a miscarriage of justice and a source of great pain for many of us, and many more families bereaved by the loss of a child.

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“The Government proposal does not allow for the complicated circumstances that surrounded the deaths of our children. It also does not anticipate circumstances under which the coroner can instruct the police to undertake inquiries at their direction.

“We campaigned to prevent future bereaved families suffering as we have whatever the circumstances of their children’s deaths. We received a commitment from your ministers at the Despatch box. There can be no reversal.”

Replying to the group, Ms Donelan said she took the commitments “incredibly seriously” and believes the changes they wanted are covered by existing laws.

“The Government believes that the amendment tabled to the data bill, combined with existing powers, achieves this,” she said.

Ms Donelan said that the proposed changes do not cover cases of murder “because the coroner’s inquest would usually be postponed until criminal proceedings had concluded”.

She said police had been given “extensive powers of investigation” into tech companies which were strengthened last year by a data access deal with the US.

Of the 10 members of the group, which signed the letter was Lorin FaFave, whose son Breck Bednar was murdered in 2014 by a boy he had met online.