Social media sites may be prosecuted for failing to protect kids from disturbing content online
Following the suicide of Molly Russell, Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield has accused companies such as Facebook of treating children as an 'afterthought'
SOCIAL media giants who fail to protect kids from self-harm images should be prosecuted, the Children’s Commissioner today demands.
Anne Longfield accused firms such as Facebook of treating youngsters as an “afterthought” following the suicide of Molly Russell, 14.
The “horrific amount of disturbing content” infes-ting the sites must be tackled, she insists.
Ms Longfield warns: “I have been reassured time and again that this is an issue taken seriously.
“However, I believe that there is still a failure to engage and that children remain an afterthought.”
She wants tech giants to face a legal obligation to protect children using their sites, with prosecutions for any breach.
Molly died after viewing scores of self-harm and suicide photos.
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Ms Longfield said such tragic cases should lead to “a moment of reflection”. But she questioned whether social media sites have “any control over their content”.
She added: “I would appeal to you to accept there are problems and to commit to tackling them — or admit publicly that you are unable to.”
She has written to YouTube and Facebook, which owns Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat.
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