The family of a teenage boy who was murdered in Caversham have met with the Prime Minister to call for online safety for children, which could include age bans on social media.
Olly Stephens was 13-years-old when he was stabbed at Bugs Bottom in Emmer Green on January 3, 2021.
His murder was organised on social media, with two boys sentenced for killing him and a girl for luring him to the meadow in September of that year.
Since then, his parents Stuart and Amanda have campaigned for online safety, anti-knife crime and extra support for SEND children.
Mr Stephens was among 14 other parents who met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer to advocate for a social media ban for children.
He said: “We want under-16s to not have access to social media, we want mobile phones out of schools.
“Algorithms are targeting under-16s, what we want is social media that is safer by design.
“What we were pushing for is a ban on social media for under 16s.
“We’re saying to social media companies, ‘go away, fix your product, then bans can be lifted if appropriate – It’s to make them safe, which they are not doing.
“We’ve made a few fake accounts for 13-year-old children. In their algorithms, girls were getting body dysmorphia, weight problems and self harm content, boys were getting content promoting knife crimes, misogyny and pornography- all coming from the algorithm.”
The Online Safety Act 2023 introduced ID verification for pornographic and harmful violent content, which came into effect in July last year.
Mr Stephens said: “We need to build on that with laws and legislation, the companies act with impunity, their products are harmful to our children, there are no two ways about it.
“We always knew the Online Safety Act would be a foundation. Tech is organic, so the law needs to be organic.”
On the Prime Minister’s reactions during the meeting, Mr Stephens said: “It was a very tense meeting, with 15 parents who all lost their children through social media, that would be intense for anybody.
“Sir Keir has two children of his own; the other ministers there have children – it’s to protect our children full stop.
“The meeting was set up with three different tables – Sir Keir went round each table, we discussed Olly’s case, and he heard our demands.
“Our demands are for every government to implement, including countries in Europe.
“We’d like to see whoever is government and is in power to implement restrictions – Section 230, implemented by US President Bill Clinton, allows tech companies no accountability.
“Safety by design is imperative – money is a big driving force for our companies, it’s not about children’s welfare, families, our care system and police forces we are the ones picking up the bill for the emotional damage and the financial costs.”
The meeting was meant to be 45 minutes; it went on for two hours.
On the prospect of change going forward, Mr Stephens said: “We are hopeful, it was a very impactful meeting, to be fair to Sir Keir, he sat round the table with us – There were 15 bereaved parents, some of us have opposing opinions, but the ultimate goal is to get tech companies to comply to our rules and get their hands of our kids, they’ve got to stop targeting our children.”
A government-run survey found nine out of 10 parents want to see a ban on social media for under-16s, like the one implemented in Australia in December last year.
The Stephens family have been supported by Matt Rodda, the Labour MP for Reading Central.
He said: “It is impossible to imagine what Olly’s parents have been through and I am pleased that Stuart was able to meet the Prime Minister to talk about the dangers of social media and knife crime.
“I understand from Stuart that he appreciated getting time to explain this very important issue and that he thought the PM listened carefully to what he and the other parents had to say.
“I know that the Prime Minister cares deeply about protecting children and young people and I have talked to him about Olly’s case and he was very concerned to hear about what had happened.
“And, I am pleased to hear that the PM has committed to taking decisive action to tackle online harms.”
