Brianna Ghey's Mother Esther Says Online Safety Act Does Not Go Far Enough
In this BBC News report, Esther Ghey argues the UK's Online Safety Act falls short of protecting children because hateful comments on social media are not classified as harmful content under the law, and calls for age restrictions preventing under-16s from holding social-media accounts. She describes children as heavily reliant on their phones, compares aspects of platform design to gambling-style engagement mechanics in her own words, and argues phone manufacturers bear a responsibility beyond commercial interest. The article notes her phone-restriction petition had passed 90,000 signatures and that her local mindfulness campaign had raised enough to fund a mindfulness teacher in every Warrington school. TechKids Foundation cites this piece as an early statement of Ghey's specific legislative critique, presented as her own policy argument rather than an independently verified claim about the law's effects.
By mid-February 2024, the phone-restriction petition Ghey had launched had passed 90,000 signatures, according to this BBC report.
James Gregory and Lou Newton, "Brianna Ghey's Mother Esther Says Online Safety Act Does Not Go Far Enough," BBC News, 15 February 2024.