EXCL Social media giants could be forced to give parents access to dead teens' accounts

Emilio Casalicchio

Tech companies could be forced to allow bereaved parents access to the social media accounts of their children after they die, PoliticsHome has learned.



Ministers are urging firms to unlock the devices and accounts of suicide victims so their families can see what may have contributed to their death, or face a change in the law.

The issue exploded after the parents of 14-year-old Molly Russell were denied access to her iPhone and online accounts, despite hopes they might contain answers to why she killed herself in 2017.

Apple has said it is unable to unlock her phone, while social media firms like Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube refused to release the deceased teen’s data without a formal request from a coroner.

“We have obligations under privacy and data protection laws but we will comply with valid legal requests in accordance with our normal procedures," a spokesperson for Facebook and Instagram said.

It comes amid growing concerns about young people seeing content online that appears to promote suicide, self-harm and depression.

The Government is soon to release a white paper laying out plans to boost protections for youngsters when it comes to the internet.

A minister told PoliticsHome the UK should follow Germany in taking a much harder line when it comes to the regulation of social media firms.

“If young people who kill themselves were exposed to harmful content that helped drive them to suicide, their parents have a right to know,” they said.

“If the tech firms don’t make changes in this area, we will have to legislate.”

A law change could see the ownership rights over data passed to families when people die, or a more streamlined process for obtaining information held by the companies.

Molly Russell's father Ian said last month: “If you were to look in Molly’s phone, there may be key evidence... We need to find out what it was that drove her to make that final decision, that encouraged her to take her life at the end.”

Under the current law, the data of a deceased person becomes legally owned by the tech firms rather than their families, while Apple security systems are designed to let nobody but the owner into devices.

Mr Russell argued: “It seems to me that the data on Molly’s phone should have become her parents’ property.

“She died without a will - she was 14 - and everything else quite naturally returns to us as her parents. And so should her data.”

'FIRMS MUST DO MORE'

Last month, digital minister Margot James vowed to "force" tech giants like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to prioritise the safety of youngsters over their commercial interests.

A spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said at the time: "Social media companies clearly need to do more to ensure they are not promoting harmful content to vulnerable people.

"Our forthcoming white paper will set out their responsibilities, how they should be met and what should happen if they are not."