The father of a 13-year-old who was murdered by two schoolboys has said work to try and amend the Online Safety Bill was “very positive”.
Stuart Stephens’ son, Olly, was ambushed and fatally stabbed in 2021 in Reading over a dispute on social media.
Mr Stephens visited Westminster on Wednesday with other bereaved families to campaign for a change in the bill.
The amendment would mean managers at tech companies could face imprisonment for failing to assist coroners.
It would also allow Ofcom to help obtain information from tech companies about material children were accessing before they died.
Two boys, both aged 14, were found guilty of Olly’s murder in September 2021 following a trial at Reading Crown Court and a 14-year-old girl admitted manslaughter.
His family has campaigned for stricter online laws to stop harmful content being shared after it transpired the attack on him was planned on 11 social media platforms.
On Wednesday during Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour MP for Reading East, Matt Rodda, brought the case of Olly Stephens to Rishi Sunak.
He said: “The two boys who attacked him had shared dozens of pictures of knives online before the attack so could the Prime Minister explain to me why the government has removed measures to tackle this sort of dreadful online content from the online safety bill?”
Mr Sunak said the government had brought forward new powers to improve the police’s use of stop and search which had made a “major difference”.
“The online safety bill also goes further than any other country has gone to make sure that we are protecting children online,” he continued.
“I’m happy to look at the specific issue that he mentions, but it’s been praised by the children’s commissioner and others for being a ground-breaking law that will do wonders to improve children’s safety.”
Also on Wednesday, Mr Stephens and his wife, Amanda, joined other bereaved parents – including the father of Molly Russell and the mother of Frankie Thomas who took their own lives after viewing self-harm material online – to meet with Baroness Kidron, an online safety campaigner.
The group had written to the prime minister, the justice secretary and the secretary of state for science and technology calling for the Online Safety Bill, which is going through parliament, to be amended.
It would also place a duty on tech platforms to name a senior manager who would be responsible for providing the data to the coroner and act as witness to an inquest.
If they failed to comply with information requests, they could face penalties including a fine of up to 10% of global revenue or imprisonment, not exceeding 51 weeks.
Currently the bill would only make managers criminally liable for failing to give information to media regulator Ofcom.
The group also spoke with Ofcom to discuss their involvement in the process, which Mr Stephens said was a “very informative” meeting.
“We’re proud to have been part of today,” he said, describing the experience as “exhausting” but “very positive”.
He added: “There’s a lot to do yet but its moving in the right direction.”
“All parties are committed to getting this bill over the line.”
Source – BBC News
