Health Secretary’s blitz on ‘appalling’ suicide images
WESTMINSTER Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday ordered web giants to crack down on suicide and self-harm images or face new laws to stop vulnerable children being bombarded with the horrific material.
He said it was ‘appalling’ how easy it still was to access such harmful content online.
But the Minister said it was now ‘time for internet and social media providers to step up and purge this content once and for all’.
His intervention comes just days after the father of a 14-year-old who killed herself after viewing online images glorifying suicide called on social media firms to clean up their act. Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly committed suicide in November 2017, even accused Instagram of helping to kill her.
In a letter to Instagram owner Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, Apple and Google, father-of-three Mr Hancock spoke of his horror at Molly’s death.
He wrote: ‘Molly was just two years older than my own daughter is now and I feel desperately concerned to ensure young people are protected. The grief Molly’s parents feel is something no one should have to experience. Every suicide is a preventable death, including Molly’s.’
He paid tribute to Mr Russell, writing: ‘I was inspired by the bravery of Molly’s father, who spoke out about the role of social media in this tragedy.’
Noting that suicide was now the leading cause of death for young people under 20, he said: ‘As Health Secretary, I am particularly concerned about content that leads to selfharm and promotes suicide.’
He added that the Government was developing proposals to ‘address all online harms’ – including suicidal and self-harm content – and to work with social media providers.
Setting out his aim to make the UK ‘the safest place to be online for everyone’, Mr Hancock warned service providers: ‘We will introduce new legislation where needed.’
He added: ‘Websites provide graphic details and information on how to take your own life. This cannot be right.’
In a statement last week, Instagram said it ‘does not allow content that promotes or glorifies self-harm or suicide and will remove content of this kind’.