Molly Russell's father's demands for tech firms after meeing Brianna Ghey's mum

16 February 2024 , 22:29

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Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell, and Esther Ghey, the mother of Brianna Ghey, appearing on BBC Breakfast as they met for the first time (Image: PA)

The father of tragic teenager Molly Russell has called for “bolder” regulation of tech firms after meeting the mum of Brianna Ghey.

Molly, 14, took her own life in 2017 after viewing harmful material on social media. Brianna, 16, was murdered last year by two schoolchildren, one of who had watched violent videos online. Molly’s dad Ian Russell and Brianna’s mum Esther Ghey met earlier this week.

And on Friday, he said he believed tech bosses were "resistant to change”. He said: "The world is waking up and realising that unless it starts to regulate big tech, nothing is going to change.”

Brianna, from Birchwood, Warrington, was stabbed to death in a park in nearby Culcheth (Cheshire Police / SWNS)

Molly, from Harrow, North London, was found dead at home in November 2017, after viewing self harm material online (PA)

Mr Russell, 60, added: "What we need in the UK at the moment is for Ofcom, who is the regulator appointed by the Government to take the powers of the Online Safety Act, to put them in place - we need Ofcom to be far bolder."

Earlier this week Brianna’s mum Esther, 37, said the new Online Safety Act does not go far enough to protect children. And during her meeting with Molly’s dad on Thursday she said: "I didn't have a clue what Brianna was looking at online. It was only after she was taken from us that I found out that she was accessing self-harm sites and eating disorder sites."

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She said the "trans hate" aimed at her daughter when articles about her are posted on social media is "horrendous". Esther said she reported a comment about her daughter on X, formerly Twitter, but the company did not take it down, saying it did not breach their policies.

She said: ”I've done a few interviews now and once the articles are posted on Twitter, the comments are absolutely horrendous, and there's a lot of trans hate that's directed to Brianna. Now, I'm all for free speech but I actually reported one of these comments and they came back to say that there was nothing wrong with what was being said. It's just complete hate and I don't think that there's a place online for that.”

In an interview with the Times on Friday, Ms Ghey said of her daughter's killers: "In a way it helped that they showed no remorse,
because if they did and they were full of regret for what they'd done, then I might have felt a sense of guilt that they were getting sent to prison for such a long time."

Molly, from Harrow, North London, was found dead at home in November 2017, after viewing self harm material online. A coroner found social media had contributed to her death. Brianna, from Birchwood, Warrington, was stabbed to death in a park in nearby Culcheth by Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both now 16, who were jailed for life last month. Jenkinson had watched extreme violence on the dark web.

Paul Byrne