London– As the UK government gets prepared to debate on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill in Parliament next week, parents of children who died in circumstances linked to social media and gaming are angry at the government for “watering down” online safety laws.
In June this year, the UK government agreed to give coroners and bereaved families new powers to access information on their loved ones held by tech companies, where there is a reasonable suspicion that the online world is relevant to their deaths, the BBC reported on Friday.
However, under the Data Bill, this provision would be clarified so “it only applies to children who have taken their own lives, and not children who have died in other ways with social media potentially involved”.
This change has angered grieving parents.
In a recent letter to Science Secretary Michelle Donelan, the Bereaved Families for Online Safety group said it had been “gratified and moved” by the government’s original commitment in June.
“Our children died in different ways, but the tragedy for each of us remains,” the group of 10 parents wrote.
They, however, added that “we were devastated by the government amendment that has changed this measure in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill to children who have taken their own lives”.
In a reply to the group, Donelan said she took the commitments she made to them “incredibly seriously”.
She believes the changes parents wanted are covered by existing laws, the report mentioned.
Lorin LaFave, whose 14-year-old son Breck Bednar was murdered in 2014 by a boy he had met through online gaming, is one of those who signed the parents’ letter.
She told the BBC: “We celebrated as campaigners in a big group. We felt so proud and pleased at the work that we had done, and made these changes that were so important for other families.”
“So then to find out that that moment was all false or fake is quite hurtful. We’re angry. As a group, as individuals, we’re angry. It’s not right to backtrack,” she was quoted as saying.
The Online Safety Bill was introduced in March under former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and has been repeatedly altered during its passage through Parliament.
Stuart Stephens, whose 13-year-old son Olly Stephens was murdered by two boys in 2021 with social media at the heart of the case, said: “You need to understand. You need to know what happened, no matter how traumatic or how brutal it is to hear. You need to hear about it because that was your child.” (IANS)
