New internet rules enforced from today - but this grieving mother is sceptical they will work

"People ever think: 'Oh, that's not going to hap to me, it's not going to hap to my child,'" says Ellen Roone. 

She's sitting successful her peaceful plot successful Cheltenham, bumblebees trundling astir successful the bushes down her.

"I didn't expect it to beryllium my child."

Jools, Ellen's son, was 14 years aged erstwhile helium took his beingness successful 2022. It's thought helium had been watching harmful contented online erstwhile helium died.

Ellen was the 1 who recovered him.

Jools was funny, into martial arts - successful fact, helium was a achromatic loop successful kung fu astatine conscionable 10 years aged - and helium was popular.

This weekend, his schoolhouse friends are each heading to Ellen's location to assistance her people what should beryllium his 18th.

They travel each twelvemonth to observe his birthday, and determination are signs of however loved helium is each implicit the location - pictures, a tiny woody dinghy painted reddish successful the garden, his sanction written down the broadside successful curly script.

When Jools passed away, Ellen became portion of a tiny but increasing radical of parents successful the UK whose children person died aft seeing harmful contented connected the internet.

Today, Ofcom, the communications regulator, begins enforcing caller rules to support the UK's children online.

Read more: New net rules travel into unit - here's what volition change

The caller rules mean "highly effective" property verification systems indispensable beryllium successful spot connected pornographic content, and societal media algorithms indispensable beryllium altered to halt harmful contented popping up connected young people's feeds.

But Ellen, and galore of the bereaved parents she campaigns with, aren't satisfied - for them, the rules don't spell acold enough.

"At the moment, you've got monolithic gaps inactive wherever it's not safe," she says.

"Online platforms are having to bash property verification. Is that going to work? Children are rather clever. They find loopholes of however to get astir these things."

She's not unsocial successful her scepticism.

More than a 100 miles distant successful a Warrington younker club, a radical of 15 teenagers person fixed up 1 of their archetypal afternoons of summertime holidays to speech astir what they've seen online.

When asked if they've seen harmful oregon inappropriate contented online, 1 of them, a 17-year-old called Amy, replies: "More than I tin count."

When she describes the things she has been sent oregon scrolled done connected societal media, it's wide she's not exaggerating.

Ryan, different 17-year-old, nonchalantly describes the net arsenic a "very, precise malicious place".

"If you're going into an online abstraction and you're expecting simplicity and everything to beryllium bully and tame, you're going successful rather naive," helium says.

Lucas and his duplicate member are conscionable 12 years aged and adjacent they've seen connection that "can beryllium rather explicit for children astir my age", helium says.

But the young radical present astatine Warrington Youth Zone aren't each convinced these caller rules are going to marque a difference.

Many of them presume their peers volition conscionable find ways astir the contented controls.

"If radical are that determined to person an over-18s account, thing is truly going to halt them," says 15-year-old Freya.

Peter Kyle, the exertion secretary, is much optimistic.

"This is simply a infinitesimal wherever the information of children online is going to instrumentality the biggest measurement guardant since the instauration of the internet," helium told Sky News.

"Finally, we [have] platforms who are having to verify people's property earlier they entree worldly and determination volition beryllium precise steep sanctions if worldly finds its mode into children's hands and it is inappropriate," helium says.

He's arrogant of these caller regulations; they are the archetypal of their benignant successful this country.

Not lone are determination overmuch stricter rules successful place, Ofcom, the communications regulator, besides has important powers if companies don't comply.

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It tin enforce fines of up to £18m oregon 10% of gross and, successful precise superior cases, halt sites operating successful the UK, each successful the sanction of cleaning up the net "cesspit" helium says the UK's children person go utilized to.

"It is indistinguishable for them arsenic to what's going to travel up adjacent [in their feeds].

"They don't cognize whether it's going to beryllium thing steadfast that they privation to spot oregon whether it is thing criminally convulsive oregon exploitative oregon damaging."

There's plentifulness of cynicism astir these caller rules.

Some radical are suspicious astir privacy. "Highly effective" property verification tin see slope oregon ID checks oregon adjacent AI tools that estimation people's ages.

The main enforcement of Yoti, 1 of the companies present offering these age-checking tools, says helium would beryllium "out of business" if helium didn’t look aft users' data.

Robin Tombs added: "Over time, radical volition get comfy [and] spot that if it is well-regulated, you tin bash this with privacy."

Others interest that much teenagers volition extremity up being criminalised.

Marcus Johnstone, a lawyer who specialises successful intersexual crimes, says: "You're not going to beryllium capable to halt teenagers watching pornography."

"The schools, the colleges they're at, everybody's watching pornography truthful they volition privation entree to that.

"It volition effect successful criminalisation of much young radical due to the fact that they volition privation to find that worldly and if it's not disposable connected the casual entree sites wherever they mightiness find it now, past they volition spell connected to the amerciable sites."

Ofcom's effect to that interest was that these rules are astir creating societal alteration arsenic overmuch arsenic technological blocks connected content.

"It's astir what we arsenic a nine accidental is mean for our online experiences," says Jessica Smith, online information main astatine the regulator.

Others, similar Ellen, privation the rules to spell overmuch further.

She supports an all-out prohibition of under-18s connected societal media, saying an Australia-style prohibition of under-16s doesn't spell acold enough.

"At 16, you're inactive rather naive and young. I retrieve reasoning I was precise mature astatine 16. Looking back, I truly wasn't," she says.

Peter Kyle, portion celebrating the caller rules, is realistic.

"I americium not telling each genitor retired determination that [from today], each azygous country of the net is going to beryllium harmless for their kids to beryllium on, oregon that immoderate contented won't gaffe through.

"But what I americium saying is that I americium expecting a measurement alteration successful children's experience.

"They volition announcement the difference. For the archetypal clip since the instauration of the internet, parents and children volition announcement a quality successful their online experience."

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed oregon suicidal tin telephone Samaritans for assistance connected 116 123 oregon email jo@samaritans.org successful the UK. In the US, telephone the Samaritans subdivision successful your country oregon 1 (800) 273-TALK.