The father of Molly Russell, who took her own life aged 14 after seeing harmful content online, has warned a ban on social media for under-16s is being ‘rushed’ by the government.
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce tomorrow morning that the UK will follow Australia’s lead and prevent young people from accessing certain social media sites.
It comes less than three weeks after the end of a consultation that drew more than 110,000 responses, including tens of thousands from parents across the country.
Ian Russell, who set up the Molly Rose Foundation in his daughter’s honour, said he was ‘quite frankly dismayed’ by reports the government is preparing an announcement.
He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: ‘In opposition, Keir Starmer promised to tighten up the online safety world by regulating better.
‘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.