The proposals by the Department for Education include creating an independent regulator, similar to Ofcom, to monitor online content and remove material that might, for example, promote self-harm, terroism or illegal activity.
There has been a growing impetus for more control as parents begin to be more aware of and more vocal about the impact of sites like Instagram on their children’s mental health, most notably in the death of Molly Russel, who was 14 when she died and whose parents believe the content she saw on social media played a part in her death.
The Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek, who in 2016 launched a campaign to encourage a safer online environment, said: “The new plans unveiled today are an encouraging sign that the online world will start to be regulated to protect people like Molly Russell, who tragically took her own life. We know that her family believe that social media was partly responsible for their daughter’s death.
“Research tells us that 4 in 10 people feel that tech firms fail to take their concerns seriously when they complain. It’s about time that social media companies are held responsible for their content and are accountable for their actions. No other organisation in the ‘real’ world has that freedom.
“We manage to regulate electricity, water companies, broadcasters, shops etc through consumer bodies, yet for years social…
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