Bereaved parents will be given access to their children’s social media

• Law applies to inquests where social media may be a factor in a child’s death 

Bereaved parents will be given access to their children’s social media accounts in a move to better help them understand why their child died.

A new data law, which works in conjunction with the Online Safety Act, gives coroners the power to force tech companies into unlock children’s social media accounts, The Telegraph reported.

The law, which is expected to be announced on Wednesday during the King’s Speech to Parliament, will apply to all inquests involving children in which it is believed that social media may have played a role in their deaths.

Parents whose children tragically died after viewing harmful content on social media have been campaigning for new legislation to protect youth from online harms for several years now.

It comes after new Technology Secretary Peter Kyle met with a group of bereaved parents last week, including the father of 14-year-old Molly Russell who was bombarded with thousands of ‘destructive’ posts in her final six months of life.

Under the new law, coroners will be able to request a child’s social media data through Ofcom.

Tech firm bosses who fail to comply with requests for the data could face up to two years in jail. Ofcom also has the power to hit tech companies with fines of up to 10 per cent of their global revenue.

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Mr Kyle last week met with seven parents whose children died by suicide or had deaths linked to social media.

He described the families as the ‘most phenomenal campaigners for online safety’ and said that despite their ‘unimaginable personal loss’, they are ‘determined to make the online world a better place for children’.

The Technology Secretary said he ‘shares’ in their determination, alleging it was ‘important for me to meet with them as Secretary of State as we continue to work together to keep children and young people protected online’.

Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life after viewing dark content online, was in attendance at the meeting. 

The Russell family only extracted a ‘tiny fraction’ of their daughter’s social media data during their five-year battle with the platforms.

However, the limited data the did receive obtain the coroner showed that Molly received at least 16,000 ‘destructive’ posts during her final six months.

The coroner ruled that she died by suicide while suffering from depression and ‘the negative effects of online content’. The coroner also determined the content had ‘more than minimally contributed’ to Molly’s death.

The Molly Rose Foundation, which was established by her family, is urging the Government to place social media companies under a statutory duty of candour. 

A spokesperson for the foundation told The Telegraph: ‘It is about being honest with information and not doing anything that impedes, frustrates or delays the process.’