Hannah Smith's father calls for law change (original) (raw)
Bullied girl's dad backs Ask.fm
The father of Hannah Smith, who committed suicide after being bullied on the Ask.fm website, has described the site's new cybersafety measures as "a good thing". But child protection charities said more needs to be done to stop online bullying.
- 15 August 2013 at 12:49pm
The father of Hannah Smith, the teenager who killed herself after allegedly receiving hate messages on social media site ask.fm, has called on the government to do more to protect young people from internet abuse.
Speaking to ITV News Midlands Correspondent Rupert Evelyn, David Smith described his immense grief and anger that the website owners were "getting away with it."
Hannah Smith, 14, died after receiving abusive messages on ask.fm Credit: Family handout
He said: "I'm angry that this can happen to teenagers, and destroy my life. It has completely destroyed my life. It makes me angry that people are getting away from this abuse. The law needs to change, and it doesn't need to change in six months, it needs to change now.
"You can't stop kids going on to the internet, but surely the government should protect them. Ask.fm has gone out of control."
Mr Smith challenged ask.fm to substantiate their claim that Hannah sent 98% of the messages to herself, and says he wants to know why they have not come forward with the 2%.
Last updated Mon 19 Aug 2013
Hannah Smith's father welcomes new Ask.fm guidelines
The father of Hannah Smith, who committed suicide after being bullied on the Ask.fm website welcomes the site's new cybersafety measures.
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