Snapchat has been used to lure children, both girls and boys, into dangerous situations that can lead to tragic outcomes, including death, by setting them up for meetings with harmful individuals.
There is a need for stricter regulations on Snapchat and other group chat platforms. Words such as "shank," "stab," and "kill" should trigger notifications or warnings, and potentially close the chat for using dangerous language.
I have attached a news article about a 13-year-old boy who lost his life as a result of being set up by a friend on social media. Deepest condolences to his family 🕊️
Olly Stephens
Article informationAuthor, Marianna Spring
Role, Specialist social media reporter
20 June 2022
It was only after Olly Stephens was murdered, in a field outside his home in Reading, that his mum and dad realised the violent and disturbing world their son had been exposed to through his phone. For BBC Panorama, reporter Marianna Spring investigates the role social media played in his death and exposes how a 13-year-old's social media accounts can be recommended violent videos and knives for sale.
Last January, Amanda and Stuart Stephens watched their son from separate windows as he left home, not realising it would be the last time. Olly wandered over to a field, Bugs Bottom, opposite their house - sliders on his feet, his phone in hand.
Fifteen minutes later, he had been murdered.
That phone he was holding would provide the answers to what had happened.
Olly was stabbed to death by two teenage boys in a field behind his house, after they recruited a girl online to lure him there. The entire attack had been planned on social media and triggered by a dispute in a social media chat group.
His parents were shocked to discover the murky world of violence and hate that their son and his friends had inhabited through their phones.
I decided to investigate the role social media played in what happened to Olly - and what 13-year-olds like him are being exposed to.
"They hunted him, tracked him and executed him through social media," Stuart tells me as we sit together on their sofa in their home in Reading.
"Social media is not guilty of the murder, but it did nothing to protect him, and without it he'd still be here."