London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Encouraging self-harm to be criminalised in Online Safety Bill

Encouraging self-harm to be criminalised in Online Safety Bill

The encouragement of self-harm will be criminalised in an update to the Online Safety Bill, the government has said.
Content that encourages someone to physically harm will be targeted in a new offence, making it illegal.

The government said the changes had been influenced by the case of Molly Russell - the 14-year-old who ended her life in November 2017.

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said she was strengthening the bill "to make sure these vile acts are stamped out".

"I am determined that the abhorrent trolls encouraging the young and vulnerable to self-harm are brought to justice," she said.

Molly Russell, from Harrow in north-west London, took her own life after viewing suicide and self-harm content on Instagram and Pinterest.

Her father has previously criticised delays to the Online Safety Bill and called for online platforms to stop self-regulating their content.

At the inquest, the coroner concluded the schoolgirl died while suffering from the "negative effects of online content".

In October, Coroner Andrew Walker wrote to social media firms and the government to call for changes including separate platforms for adults and children.

Ms Donelan said social media firms could no longer be "silent bystanders" and they would face fines for "allowing this abusive and destructive behaviour to continue".

She said the update to the Online Safety Bill would create a new offence, bringing self-harm content in line with communications that encourage suicide - which is already illegal.

The amendment would mean social media platforms would be required to remove self-harm content and any person found to have such content would face persecution.

More details about the maximum penalty would be published in due course, the government said.

The NSPCC's Richard Collard said it was "good news" the government was recognising the dangers of children being exposed to online content promoting self-harm.

But he said a "culture of compliance and accountability" from technology firms that have allowed this type of content "to spread like wild fire" was needed.

The Online Safety Bill is due to return to Parliament in early December, following a number of delays.

The digital department said it could not say when the amendments would be tabled.

Earlier this week the government announced other new offences being added to the bill that would crack down on the sharing of intimate images without consent.

Representative's from both Pinterest and Meta, Instagram's parent company, gave evidence during Molly Russell's inquest.

Meta executive Elizabeth Lagone said she believed posts seen by Molly, which her family say "encourage" suicide, were safe, but the firm agreed that regulation was needed.

Judson Hoffman of Pinterest told the inquest the site was "not safe" when the school girl was using it. The company said it was "committed" to making ongoing improvements to help ensure the platform is "safe for everyone".

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said "lives and families" had been destroyed by "those who encourage vulnerable internet users to self-harm".

"Our changes will ensure the full force of the law applies to those callous and reckless individuals who try to manipulate the vulnerable online in this way," Mr Raab said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×