- Mental health sector and affected families dismayed as Ofcom recommends government turn down chance to fully regulate ‘suicide forums’
- Dangerous eating disorder content, racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia to get minimal regulation too
- One website left unchecked thought to be associated with at least 97 UK deaths
(Content warning: this news story mentions suicide. Support is available if you are affected.)
Charities, organisations and affected families, including ourselves, Samaritans, Molly Rose Foundation, Mind, and Beat, have written to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, strongly urging his government to reject the advice put forward by Ofcom to not use the Online Safety Act to fully regulate incredibly dangerous websites.
Following an amendment to the Online Safety Act which received cross-party support, including by Labour at the time, the Secretary of State has the power to designate particularly dangerous or concerning websites as “Category 1”. This grants Ofcom the greatest scope of powers for oversight and regulation of these websites.
Despite this, in Ofcom’s recently published advice to the government, it explicitly recommended the government reject the opportunity to use this power to regulate smaller websites. This includes those that promote and glorify suicide, dangerous eating disorder content, and violent antisemitism, racism and Islamophobia. Ofcom have provided no real justification for this advice.
In their letter, the organisations and family members have expressed dismay at this decision. They are calling on the government to explicitly reject that advice, and use the full regulatory powers under the Online Safety Act to address these immensely harmful websites.
A BBC report has linked one site which would not be regulated under Ofcom’s advice to at least 50 UK deaths, and it is understood that the National Crime Agency is investigating 97 deaths in the UK thought to be related to the site. A 2017 inquiry into suicides of young people found suicide-related internet use in 26% of deaths in under-20s, and 13% of deaths in 20–24-year-olds. Three-quarters of people who took part in Samaritans’ research with Swansea University said they had harmed themselves more severely after viewing self-harm content online
Other sites which the signatories believe should be regulated are known to have hosted violently antisemitic and Islamophobic content, with one site inspiring the shooting in Buffalo in the US and evidence that another smaller social media service was used to stoke this summer’s racist riots. Under Ofcom’s advice, none of these websites would be considered amongst the most harmful.
Mark Rowland, our Chief Executive, said:
“We’re utterly dismayed by Ofcom’s advice for the government to not crack down on incredibly harmful websites as strongly as possible. Ofcom have provided no real justification for their decision - that’s because there is none. Failing to regulate these websites only risks further lives being lost to suicide, eating disorders, and potentially even violent hatred like we saw during the summer’s racist riots.
“The government needs to use this classification to send a message – websites that promote and glorify suicide, that encourage eating disorders, and that spread hate throughout the world will face the consequences of their actions. They ruin lives, families and communities. It is in absolutely everyone’s interests that the government ignores Ofcom’s advice, and instead press forward with tackling the hate and harm these websites cause.”
Andy Burrows, Chief Executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, said:
“During the passage of the Online Safety Act, Parliament sent a clear signal that regulators should have much needed powers tackle small but high-harm suicide fora responsible for dozens of UK deaths.
“While it’s inexplicable that Ofcom now doesn’t propose to use these powers in full, we strongly encourage the Government to listen to suicide prevention experts and make clear to those running these pernicious platforms that there can be no place to hide.”
Julie Bentley, Chief Executive of Samaritans, said:
“Danger often lurks in out-of-the-way corners of the internet and so for the Online Safety Act to protect the public properly, platforms must be judged by the harm they can cause, not just by how popular they are. All sites with dangerous suicide and self-harm content must be regulated and punished by the fullest extent of the law, or else the harm posed by this content remains a deadly threat.”
The full list of signatories is:
- Imran Ahmed, CEO, Center for Countering Digital Hate
- Julie Bentley, CEO, Samaritans
- Mark Rowland, CEO, Mental Health Foundation
- Andy Burrows, CEO, Molly Rose Foundation
- Ellen O’Donaghue, CEO, James’ Place
- Ged Flynn, Chief Executive, PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide
- Alice Hendy MBE, CEO, R;pple Suicide Prevention
- Dr Sarah Hughes, CEO, Mind
- Andy Bell, Chief Executive, Centre for Mental Health
- David Parfett, Bereaved parent
- Andrew Radford, Chief Executive, Beat
- Adele Zeynep Walton, Bereaved sister
- Matthew Smith, Chief Operating Officer, If U Care Share Foundation
- Danny Stone, Chief Executive, Antisemitism Policy Trust
- Maeve Walsh, Director, Online Safety Act Network