Ofcom’s failure on online safety is letting children down

New Molly Rose Foundation polling shows the extent to which parents and the public feel let down. Despite overwhelming public concern about children’s online safety, three in five adults (60%) do not believe that Ofcom has performed well on children’s safety.

I have lost count of the number of times I’ve heard the same message from MPs, parents and young people themselves – Ofcom has been slow and deeply unambitious, tech firms continue to operate like nothing has changed, and that the Act simply hasn’t been enforced as Parliament had envisaged.

Those critiques are wholly deserved. It took a political and public outcry over the appalling nudification tools on Elon Musk’s Grok before the regulator finally acted against a Big Tech platform for the first time.

Unlike their counterparts in Brussels, Ofcom has so far turned a blind eye to widespread and disturbing child harms on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. We haven’t seen a single investigation opened into any of these companies yet.

In the face of deeply disturbing new grooming threats, which see sadistically motivated organised groups target vulnerable teens to coerce them into acts of self-harm and even suicide, the regulator has been absent.

Most disturbingly of all, Ofcom has been painfully slow to take action against the pro-suicide forum responsible for at least 135 deaths in the UK. It’s taken 11 months for the regulator to finally rule that the forum has breached the Act and put users at risk of an imminent threat to life.

At one stage, Ofcom had even signalled it may scale back its investigation. It took an outcry from civil society and bereaved parents, and new evidence submitted by Molly Rose Foundation showing that scores of vulnerable UK users were still coming to harm, before the regulator finally decided to act.

In this context, it is no surprise that parents’ patience has snapped.

The loud and vociferous calls for a social media ban are the product of years of delay and inertia from the regulator, Government, but most of all Big Tech themselves.

However, our polling shows that the public has not given up on regulation. Most adults recognise that, as in every other part of our economy, regulation is the most effective route to address product safety risks.

In fact, three-quarters of UK adults (75%) want a new Online Safety Act that strengthens online safety regulation for young people. Support for a new Act is higher than that for a flawed Australian-style social media ban.

The message to the Government is clear – the public wants regulation to succeed, and they are demanding decisive action to be taken immediately.

Harmful social media is not inevitable, but it will take political will and courage from regulators to deliver the step change in ambition that parents and children are right to demand and deserve.

________________

Andy Burrows is the CEO of the Molly Rose Foundation

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk