Digital Secretary Lisa Nandy apologised to the Bereaved Families for Online Safety group for slow progress in tackling online harms when she met them for the first time this week
Some of the families who attended the meeting with Digital Secretary Lisa Nandy gathered outside Parliament afterwards(Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
The parents of more than a dozen children whose deaths are linked to social media have told Lisa Nandy she needs “political courage” in standing up to the tech firms.
The Digital Secretary, who picked up the online safety brief in July, apologised to the Bereaved Families for Online Safety group for slow progress in tackling online harms when she met them for the first time this week.
Some of the families, who spoke to The Mirror outside Parliament after the meeting on Tuesday, said they warned her they need tough action to tackle the crisis after years of warm words from politicians. Ms Nandy promised parents the social media ban for under 16s is on track to come into force in spring next year.
Lisa Kenevan, who believes her son Isaac, 13, may have died in an online challenge that went wrong in 2022, said: “We have been sitting around the table before with other SOSs (Secretary of States) and she did apologise and she did say that she was going to be doing more action and that she would like us to be more involved, almost like lived experiences, so that was quite encouraging.”
Ruth Moss, whose 13-year-old daughter Sophie Parkinson took her own life in 2014 after being exposed to dangerous material online, said the Government has an “opportunity to crack this”. Ms Moss, who has been campaigning on this for a decade now, admitted she has become a bit of a “cynic” amid the lack of progress.
She told The Mirror: “I’ve become a bit of a cynic, so for me, it’s about action now. But she did commit to the timeline for bringing in the social media ban. That was really positive. She has listened to us when we’ve said it should be feature-based rather than actually banning or naming platforms, so that’s really positive.”
She continued: “They have an opportunity to crack this. One thing I did say to her was it will take political courage. One of the questions I asked was, how does she balance the fact that they want to keep children safe, but the moment they bring in legislation, geopolitically, that will be hard.
“That will be a challenge because the tech companies aren’t going to sit and take that lying down. And she said she was up for the challenge. So let’s hope she actually carries on and pulls through with that.”
Stuart Stephens, whose 13-year-old son Olly was stabbed to death after an online dispute in 2021, said the meeting with Ms Nandy had been “very emotional”, adding: “These meetings always are because we’re telling our stories, but the focus wasn’t really on our stories today. It was about what needs to be done next.
“I was very pleased with the way the meeting went, but I wish this was done 10 years ago. All of us here, our children would still be here had we had the information 10 years ago that we had now.”
George Nicolaou, whose 15-year-old son Christoforos took his own life after being sent “horrific messages” on an online forum in 2022, said he hopes Ms Nandy’s “words become actions”. He said: “Lisa Nandy is a lovely lady, and she has given us lots of assurances. She’s made lots of promises. And we just all of us speaking for the entire group hope that her words become actions, and we gain what we want to achieve.”
Gemma Best, whose 13-year-old daughter Blake Gallier took her own life in 2025 after being bombarded with suicide content online, said it was “hugely” important bereaved parents are involved in conversations about social media safety, saying: “I don’t think a lot of parents, probably like myself, thought it would ever happen to them.
“So I think being a parent who’s now going through it and being part of a group that has experienced it, it’s so important because we’re currently going through it. So we want to support parents to not go through this horrific, tragic journey we’ll come across.”
Michelle Gardner, whose step-daughter Kibi Wade took her own life in 2024 after being bullied online, outlined the urgency of the issue, saying: “They really, really need to do something very quickly because every day more and more children are being harmed, and sadly, in our case, children are losing their lives.”
Mariano Janin, whose 14-year-old daughter Mia died took her own life in 2021 after she was relentlessly bullied, said it looks like the Government is committed to creating a “safer internet” and following through with promises made under Mr Starmer. He said he felt reassured that Ms Nandy knew all the families’ stories, adding: “I think she knew who we were, all of them sitting there, every case in particular, and she showed us, reassured in a way, that we carry on with the same route.”
The Government has promised to publish the social media ban’s legislation by the end of the year. It has meant parents have been waiting for details since Keir Starmer announced the ban in June.
Ms Nandy last month suggested tech firms could earn an exemption to the incoming ban in the UK if they make their platforms safe for teens. Teens aged 16 and 17 also face a default overnight curfew and a block on infinite scrolling – an addictive design feature – to prevent a cliff edge when the social media ban lifts.
