Brianna Ghey's mother urges tech firms to hear bereaved families on online safety

Esther Ghey is pressing tech firms and ministers to hear the families who have lived through the worst consequences of online harm, not just the executives with access to government. The mother of Brianna Ghey has argued that protection for children still falls short, and that policy is moving too slowly to match the damage families have already endured.

Ghey has called for children under 16 to be blocked from accessing social media on smartphones, saying the Online Safety Act was not strong enough and demanding “drastic action” to protect children. She has already met the prime minister to discuss online safety, underlining how bereaved families have pushed their way into a debate often dominated by platform lobbying, regulatory language and ministerial reassurance. Bereaved Families for Online Safety has made the same basic criticism, saying proposed rules have not gone far enough.

The pressure has intensified as Ofcom has moved from consultation to enforcement. On 24 April 2025, the regulator finalised child safety measures under the Online Safety Act, saying they would make social feeds safer, require stronger age checks and give children more help and control online. Those rules were framed as a major step forward, but Ghey and other campaigners have continued to argue that stronger age limits and firmer duties on platforms are still needed if children are to be protected before harm occurs.

Ofcom then turned to another sensitive issue: what happens after a child dies. On 15 December 2025, it opened a consultation on guidance for tech firms responding to bereaved parents who request information about a deceased child’s use of an online service. The regulator said its draft guidance was informed by parents who faced significant barriers in getting information from platforms, a sign of how often families are left to fight for basic answers after tragedy.

Brianna Ghey was murdered in February 2023 in a park in Cheshire. Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe were later jailed for her killing, with minimum terms of 22 years and 20 years respectively. For Ghey, the central question is no longer whether the system can say it is acting, but whether ministers and regulators will impose rules that actually reduce harm, set enforceable age limits and force platforms to answer to the families most directly affected.