Ian Russell, the father of 14-year-old Molly Russell who took her own life in 2017 after viewing harmful content online, has accused Sir Keir Starmer of rushing through a social media ban for political reasons, calling it “deplorable” and warning that the prime minister is “gambling with young people’s lives.”
Speaking exclusively to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Russell said he was “dismayed” by reports that the government is to ban under-16s from using platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok – an announcement expected on Monday after a three-month consultation. He told The Mirror he feels “desperately let down” by Starmer, accusing him of taking the easier route instead of making social media safer in the long term.
“Ian Russell calls PM Starmer's planned under-16 social media ban a 'deplorable' political gamble.”
In opposition, Starmer promised to tighten online safety by regulating better, Russell said. “Early last year, father to father, I met with him briefly and he was very concerned – and he promised me he would look into 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.”
Russell said the prime minister had promised a group of bereaved parents an announcement by the summer recess in mid-July, “so he’s rushed that forward for some reason. I can’t think of a reason other than a political reason … if he’s playing politics, what he’s doing is gambling with young people’s lives – and I find that deplorable.”
The expected ban would go further than Australia’s, with restrictions on design features and overnight curfews for 16- and 17-year-olds, and would also cover gaming platforms, according to The Mirror. The government has examined a blanket ban on under-16s accessing social media, though details have not been made public.
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.”
New research conducted on behalf of Russell’s suicide prevention charity, the Molly Rose Foundation, found that 47% of girls aged 13 to 17 saw high-risk suicide, self-harm and eating disorder content over one week in April. Only slightly fewer teens are seeing harmful content now (34%) than immediately before the Online Safety Act came into force last summer (37%), raising questions about whether tech giants are following the rules.
The Molly Rose Foundation said it is “gravely concerned” that an Australian-style ban will fail to address fundamental product safety issues. Russell argued that “sledgehammer techniques like bans” will cause more problems: “Children will still find a way around it, as they always do around any ban, and as Australia is proving, and therefore it would almost be more dangerous than less dangerous. Nothing has been done to tackle the problem at source.”
Despite Russell’s warnings, nine in 10 parents who responded to the government’s consultation demanded Australia-style age limits.