2 October 2022, 12:08 | Updated: 2 October 2022, 12:12
This caller clashed with Sangita Myska over how children can be shielded from the dangers of the internet, and holds parents fully responsible for protecting their children from harmful online content.
Molly Russell’s inquest reached a concluding point yesterday, nearly five years after the 14-year-old from Harrow in North-West London ended her own life.
The Coroner shared findings that the schoolgirl had accessed online content that promoted self-harm, and that such content should never have been accessible to her.
Miss Russell’s father has plead for measures to be implemented for children’s experiences of the online world to become safer.
The Prince of Wales joined Mr Russell in making a plea for better safeguarding.
In an exchange with Sangita, caller Andrew expressed his belief that parents hold full responsibility for the online safety of their children.
“Parents should provide a decent framework for their children to understand what they should and shouldn’t be looking at,” said Andrew.
“That means that some children will fall into the wayside, and some children will suffer, but it’s life isn’t it.”
Andrew justified his comments by arguing that harmful online content is unavoidable, and that because the internet can be simple to use, children can learn how to bypass problematic material.
“You can’t hide this stuff from children,” said Andrew. “It’s easy to create, it’ll take only about 10 minutes [to set up a self-harm page online].”
Sangita took a stand against Andrew’s perspective, questioning whether it’s realistic to expect parents to know exactly what their children are doing online.
She then said that she’s interviewed Silicon Valley whistleblowers who revealed that tech firms manipulate algorithms to increase the spread of their content.
READ MORE: Schoolgirl looked at ‘hideous’ material from the ‘ghetto of the online world’, her father tells inquest
https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/sangita-myska/molly-russell-inquest-caller-clashes-with-sangita/
