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‘The online world was a very negative place for my daughter’

Ruth Moss's daughter Sophie took her own life in 2014 after viewing harmful online content.

A mother of a 13-year-old girl who took her own life after viewing harmful content online, has told ѿý Radio 5 Live that parents can’t tackle the problem “on their own”. It comes after the announcement that Ofcom is set to get new powers to force social media firms to take down harmful content. Up until now, firms like Facebook, Tiktok, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter have largely been self-regulating.

Ruth Moss says for her daughter Sophie, who died in 2014, the online environment “was something that was very negative”.

She says as access to wi-fi has grown, along with the number of children that now have smartphones, it has become “more and more difficult to police children’s’ internet use.”

“I'm not there to be the dragon that says we shouldn't be using it, it's about making sure that that tech companies that earn billions of profit a year, take responsibility”.

Social media companies have defended their own rules about taking down content.

If you've been affected by issues in this video, there are a range of organisations and websites that can offer you advice and support. You can find them listed on the ѿý's Actionline website at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

This clip is originally from ѿý Radio 5 Live Drive.

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