Samaritans responds to the Online Safety Act becoming law in the UK
Jacqui Morrissey, Assistant Director of Influencing at Samaritans, said: “This is an important moment for suicide prevention. We’re pleased the Government is trying to tackle illegal suicide and self-harm content online and ensure that children will be protected from other harmful content on the internet. However, there is still more to do to as dangerous suicide and self-harm content will continue to be accessible to anyone over the age of 18. The Government and regulator must use the power of the new law to hold all sites with dangerous content to account and listen to the voices of people with lived experience when it reviews progress in the coming years.
“In the meantime, Samaritans will continue to work with stakeholders through our Online Excellence Programme to do all we can to reduce lives lost to suicide.”