Molly Russell inquest: Michelle Donelan says children to be exempt from ‘tweaks’ to online harms bill

Ministers have faced a revolt from senior Tories - including former Brexit ministers Lord Frost, David Davis and Steve Baker - over plans to designate and regulate legal but harmful content online for adults. Confirming changes to the bill, Ms Donelan said: “There is an element of the bill that is in relation to free speech for adults and we are looking at that and we will be changing to make sure we get the balance right.” Campaigners believe the Government may ditch the entire clause regulating legal but harmful content for adults such as online abuse and posts promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders - and instead tweak other parts of the bill to underscore protections for children from such harms. The Culture Secretary said the bill was her “number one priority,” describing the case of Molly Russell as “heartbreaking.” “We have to make sure as a Government that we prevent horrendous incidents like this happening again,” she told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme. She said the inquest would ensure social media firms submitted information and evidence so that “we can properly assess exactly what they did and the role that they played”. We need to make sure they are prioritising the welfare and wellbeing of children online so that we prevent incidents like this.” Molly, from Harrow, north-west London, is known to have viewed material linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide before ending her life in November 2017, prompting her family to campaign for better internet safety.