Mum of murdered teen calls for social media ban

The mother of a 14-year-old boy who was murdered in 2014 by an online groomer has said she would support an under-16s social media ban similar to what has been rolled out in Australia.

Breck Bednar, from Caterham, Surrey, was stabbed to death at an Essex flat in 2014 after he arranged to meet an internet friend.

His mother, Lorin LaFave, who has since founded the Breck Foundation to raise awareness of the dangers of online predators, believes such a ban would be a "really worthy thing to do".

Ms LaFave, who lives in Kent, said: "Let them be children...like with every other age restrictive thing, between alcohol and driving and voting, this is just an age restriction to help them and protect them."

Last month Australia banned all under-16s from using major social media services including Tiktok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Threads.

They cannot set up new accounts and existing profiles are being deactivated.

Ms LaFave described the ban as "really interesting" and "so brave".

She said: "I think our children have just been so addicted to their technology through the algorithms and the goals of the big tech companies.

"There are so many other things that they could and should be spending their time on."

Ms LaFave says she is motivated by the belief that if "there had been more people" campaigning when her son was murdered she would have been able to get more help.

An investigation by the then Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) examined Surrey Police's response to a telephone report from Ms LaFave saying her son was being groomed online.

England's Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, has recently been discussing the wider issue of smartphone use, urging families to have "phone-free time" over the festive period.

"We have to lead as adults. We can't talk about banning the kids if we're not doing it ourselves," she said.

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