Mother of Frankie Thomas wants answers from tech firms over daughter's death

A mother said she was left "in the wilderness" trying to find out information from tech companies after her daughter took her own life.

Judy Thomas's 15-year-old child Frankie died five years ago after viewing self-harm material online.

The family repeatedly tried to get information and were left "absolutely at a loss," she told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

She and other bereaved families are campaigning for a change in the law.

They want an amendment to the Online Safety Bill going through Parliament, which would allow families and coroners to enlist the support of the regulator Ofcom in helping them legally obtain the information from tech companies about the material their children were accessing prior to their deaths.

Frankie, who had autism, was found dead at her home in Witley in Surrey in September 2018.

An inquest heard she had taken her own life, after spending months viewing graphic content about suicide and self-harm on school laptops and iPads.

Ms Thomas told the programme the family had "no idea why Frankie had taken her own life".

"We wrote online to Instagram. This went on for about a year with no answers.

In an emotional interview she recalled: "We wanted to speak to somebody and just say, would you help us? We were devastated... we just wanted to know."

Ms Thomas added: "We would have really appreciated the platforms coming to the inquest as they were requested to."

Baroness Kidron, the online safety campaigner, is working with the bereaved families in calling for the amendment.

The group - which also includes the father of Molly Russell, who also died after viewing suicide content online - has written to the prime minister, justice secretary, and secretary of state for science and technology calling for the law to be changed.

Baroness Kidron said there needed to be "a proper formal route for parents and for coroners to get the kind of information we need to see."

She told the programme the inquest into Frankie's death "opened and closed" without all the information the family needed from the tech firms.

"My inbox is full of bereaved families who want access to data.

"The coroner service has not managed to get that information, families have not managed to get that information.

"It is inhuman, and the sort of distress that is happening all of these years later is unacceptable."

She said the amendment had support across the Lords and the Commons.

The letter sent to the government - and seen by the BBC - says: "We have each lost a child in circumstances relating to the digital world, and we have each struggled to gain information we needed to understand more about their deaths. Sadly, each year, there are hundreds of families who find themselves in similarly distressing circumstances.

"The process of attempting to access data has been inhumane. In some cases, it has taken years, and we have been left in automated loops, speaking to online bots, as though we were contacting lost property."

Lawyers for Molly Russell's father Ian have also written to the government saying there is still, even five years later, information Meta has not provided to them relating to her death.

They say: "Meta for example, never disclosed records of what content was promoted to Molly on Instagram; they disclosed some of the harmful content Molly saved or liked only weeks before the final inquest; and the initial disclosure was provided in a manner wholly inaccessible to Molly's family."

The families will be in Parliament this week pressing their case.

Ms Thomas said in some respects she did "despair" over the situation but added it would be brilliant if the government now took the opportunity to act.

Meta, who owns Instagram - one of the sites accessed by Frankie - apologised to her family for the experience they had when they first contacted them.

A spokesperson for Meta said: "What the Thomas family have been through is devastating and our deepest sympathies are with them and anyone affected by suicide.

"This is a challenging and complex issue, and we must comply with our privacy and data protection obligations. We've been in touch with the family and want to be as helpful as we can during this time."

The inquest in Frankie's death heard she went on a platform called Wattpad where users can write and share stories, with the last piece she read mirroring the method she used to take her own life that afternoon.

Wattpad said it sent a statement to the coroner.

"We were deeply saddened to learn of the heartbreaking case of Frankie Thomas. Our sympathies continue to be with Frankie's family and loved ones," it said.

"Wattpad participated in the coroner's inquest, sending a robust witness statement to the Surrey Coroner's Office on July 7th 2021 as part of the proceeding. Wattpad's focus has been, and continues to be, to create a safe, inclusive, and respectful space for readers and writers online."