Tech giants must prevent online harm

The nature of social media means it is extremely difficult to control content and who consumes it. Criminals, grifters and abusers have found a way to exploit it and ensnare those most vulnerable to its relatively lawless nature.

That is the nature of innovation – it is rarely used solely for its desired purpose.

However, in the case of social media sites, the most vulnerable users are children.

As with the case of Tayside schoolgirl Sophie Parkinson, it can have the most tragic consequences.

There is no way to put the genie back in the bottle – use of sites like TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter have become the norm.

It is also normal for younger people to be a step ahead of their parents when using new technology.

Any parent will confirm it is incredibly difficult to strike the balance between granting children an adequate amount of freedom and privacy with protecting them from the predation of the internet’s worst elements.

Likewise, hard-pressed police and social services can only do so much even with the flood of cases they know about, likely to be the tip of the iceberg.

The onus for security, therefore, has to be on the tech giants which create the platforms for harmful content.

The campaign regulation, backed mother Ruth Moss, consideration.

She is campaigning with the NSPCC for tighter regulation and more education around mobile technology and the dangers of strangers online.

They want social media companies to bear an element of responsibility for the actions of their users.

It is not good enough for firms making billions of pounds from the content posted by their customers, to then balk at any notion of being culpable for it.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has told The Courier legislation will be introduced “as soon as possible”.

It must not be too late – or ineffectual – to stop the harm suffered by the many thousands of young children it should protect. for stricter by Sophie’s is well worth