Desperate dad's letter as schoolgirl took own life after chilling social media posts
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A bereaved dad has warned Rachel Reeves she must reject the “nonsense” from tech giants that online safety is at odds with economic growth. Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life after being exposed to online harms, has sent an urgent letter to the Chancellor telling her that improving online safety will in fact be good for growth.
The grieving father - whose daughter Molly died in 2017 after being bombarded with self-harm and suicide posts on social media - said he measures the impact of online harms in “the missed birthdays” and the “empty chair at the Christmas dinner table”. But he told Ms Reeves she could also measure it in its economic impact.
Speaking to the Mirror on Thursday, the online harms campaigner warned that the education sector and children’s mental health services are financially paying for the failures of tech giants to protect children online. He pointed to the government’s own modelling that estimates a 1.3% reduction in exposure to online harm could bring £345million in benefits - which it describes as a “very conservative” estimate.
Mr Russell said: “If you develop tech safely, it will contribute to economic growth, and you'll be in a better place. If you don't develop tech safely, you'll be mopping up afterwards and that will cost money. As ever, if you deal with the problem at source, it tends to cost less in dealing with the problem than if you allow things to get worse and problems to get bigger, it'll cost more. So start as you mean to go on, employ the safety measures now that will save you money.”.
