Social media firms may be required to share dead children’s data

SOCIAL media bosses could be required by law to unlock dead children’s data for bereaved parents or face multimillion pound fines and up to a year in jail under proposed legal changes.

Ministers signalled yesterday that they were prepared to consider amendments, to be tabled to the Online Safety Bill, that aim to prevent a repeat of the five-year delay in access experienced by the grieving parents of Molly Russell, the 14-year-old who took her own life after being bombarded with graphic posts on self harm and social media.

Challenged last night during the report stage of the Bill in the Commons by former ministers including Sajid Javid and Damian Collins, Paul Scully, the digital minister, said the Government would close loopholes that stop bereaved parents accessing the data.

The changes have been drawn up by Baroness Kidron, the film director and campaigner, who has had pleas for help from dozens of parents who have been denied access to social media data that may help them understand the circumstances of their children’s deaths.

The amendments would give Ofcom, the online watchdog, powers to ensure bereaved parents and coroners receive access to social media platform data if it is suspected to have played a part in a child’s death.

A new duty would require social media companies to hand over “relevant” content which a dead child “viewed or otherwise engaged with”, within a timeframe set by the coroner.

This would include algorithms or searches showing how harmful content may have been driven to the child, as happened with Molly, and ways in which the child engaged with it such as viewing, sharing or storing it. Third parties must be redacted to protect privacy.

Her plans have been backed by Ian Russell, Molly’s father, who said the family had refused to give up their fight for access to her accounts despite the toll it took on their “emotional health”.

The Bill will also be used by the Government to crack down on “Tiktok traffickers”, Michelle Donelan, the Culture Secretary, said yesterday.

Tiktok and other social media firms will be forced to prevent and remove adverts by people smugglers for small boat crossings of the Channel, or face jail and multimillion pound fines.

It is understood the move – publicly backed by 30 Tory MPS – was privately supported by Theresa May and more than a dozen other Tory MPS, enough to overturn Rishi Sunak’s majority.

Under the plan, two current offences involving modern slavery or exploitation and aiding and abetting crossings will become “priority” offences in the Bill, so social media firms will have to proactively prevent adverts being posted and remove any that are put up.