UK introduces new Internet Safety Law to Prevent Teen Suicide

A new bill introduced by the UK government will protest children from accessing harmful websites online. 

The new bill has been pushed forward with the help of Judy and Andy Thomas, the parents of a 15-year-old girl that took her life in 2018. Frankie Thomas had been viewing websites with harmful materials on school laptops in the lead up to her death. 

It has been reported that on the last day of her life, Frankie viewed content explicitly describing suicide, the last of which she copied when she returned home from school. Her parents found her in her cupboard and have dedicated their lives since to passing legislation to prevent this from happening to any other families. 

The new bill will share information with the UKs regulator of communications, Ofcom. Giving them the opportunity to filter through content and block or fine any sites that are found to be in breach of the new rules. The Bill, if introduced as law, will also offer the possibility of prosecution for executives that refuse to protect users from harmful content. 

Frankie’s parents have stated that she did not have access to a computer at home, viewing the materials she did at school. It is ludicrous to think that a child could have unsupervised access to triggering content in a place where she should have been safe. Hopefully the new government action will prevent any other young people form meeting the same fate. 
 

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