Grieving dad's heartbreaking plea to Keir Starmer played live on BBC's Laura Kuenssberg
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The dad of a 14-year-old who took her own life after seeing harmful content online has warned the UK is “going backwards” on internet safety. Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly died in 2017, warned that Ofcom’s implementation of online safety laws is a “disaster”. He has appealed directly to the Prime Minister as a father to stop children from facing the “dangers” they’re currently experiencing online.
In a clip played on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Russell said: "I'm sure Keir, as a father, protects his children from online dangers as much as any individual can, but as a Prime Minister, he needs to really back online safety and move forward so that the UK is the safest place in the world to be online, and children, when they're there in the future, don't face the dangers they're facing today.".
In a letter to Mr Starmer, he warned that without better protections "streams of life-sucking content" will soon become "torrents" and that a "digital disaster" at the hands of the tech firms is on the horizon. "This preventable harm would be happening on your watch,” he added. The dad said there is "widespread dismay" among bereaved families who have fought for tougher protections warning that more young people have lost their lives because of "dither and delay".
