Molly Russell’s father calls on Ofcom to be ‘bolder’ after meeting Esther Ghey

Ian Russell said technology companies were ‘heading in the wrong direction’.

Ian Russell has said Ofcom needs to be ‘far bolder’ in dealing with big tech companies (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Wire)

The father of Molly Russell has called on Ofcom to be “far bolder” on regulating technology companies, after he met the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey.

Ian Russell said big tech firms were “heading in the wrong direction”, adding that he thought it was their bosses who were “resistant to change”.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Friday morning, he said: “The world is waking up and realising that unless it starts to regulate big tech, nothing is going to change.

“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.”

Mr Russell, the father of 14-year-old Molly Russell who took her own life in November 2017 after viewing harmful material on social media, said the early signs from the consultation process for the Act was that Ofcom was being “timid and very tame”.

He said: “If Ofcom aren’t bolder and don’t take stronger measures to try to control these online harms then tech will race away in front of us and we’ll have this problem for far longer, and young people will be in danger for far longer.”

On Thursday, Mr Russell met Esther Ghey, the mother of Brianna Ghey, who described self-harm websites as “absolutely horrific”.

During their conversation, which was filmed by the BBC, Ms Ghey 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.”

Mr Russell replied: “I’m over six years down the road from Molly’s death and I still have bad days and hearing your story has reminded me how raw the emotions are when you’re closer to the death.”

He showed Ms Ghey a book of handwritten notes by Molly in which she alluded to her depression, writing: “Sometimes my mind is like a little boat out in the middle of the sea in a big storm. I’m alone and all the waves are closing down on me, drowning me.”

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Friday, Mr Russell said: “Since Molly’s death, which is over six years ago now, I’ve met far too many families in similar situations and there’s a tremendous bond that exists between all of us.

“Every loss of a child is unique and different. But there’s a connection and I think maybe we think we can understand each other a little bit better because we’ve been through something similar.”