The mother of a 16-year-old boy who killed himself after being blackmailed on Instagram has criticised the platform’s owner, Meta, for “unforgivable” delays in releasing data that was key to the police investigation into her son’s death.
Murray Dowey died last December at his family home in Dunblane, Scotland. His parents, Ros and Mark, say they believe he was tricked into sending intimate pictures to an Instagram contact, who he thought was a girl his own age but turned out to be overseas criminals involved in financially motivated sexual extortion – known as “sextortion”.
Ros Dowey also accused the authorities in Nigeria, where his blackmailer is thought to be based, of putting other young people’s lives at risk because of their lack of cooperation in tracking down the criminals who had targeted Murray.
Police Scotland confirmed on Thursday morning that Meta had released the data requested by them, but Dowey said the social media company had deliberately delayed and hindered the investigation.
“It’s bad enough that they don’t put the protections in place and are not using all the technologies that they could to make them safer platforms for young people.
“The right thing to do would be for them to hand the data over to Police Scotland immediately in January. [Instead] they delayed as long as they can. It can only be that they’re worried that the data will impact their profits and their reputation,” she said.
Dowey referred to the case of Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son killed himself. She is calling for parents to be given the legal right to access their children’s social media accounts to help understand why they died.
“If they won’t hand over data to organisations like Police Scotland then an individual parent has got no chance.”
In a statement, Meta said: “Our thoughts are with the Dowey family during this difficult time.” It went on: “We’ve fully cooperated with law enforcement in this investigation, including responding to any data requests.”
Dowey told the Guardian the progress of the investigation in Nigeria was “painfully slow”.
“As time passes, it’s going to be harder to gather any evidence if they do eventually identify the person,” she said. “In the meantime, how many more young people are the same perpetrators terrorising?”
Crime agencies across the UK, US and Australia confirm that the crime of sextortion is rising sharply, with teenage boys and young adult males typically the victims of loosely organised cybercriminal gangs, often based in west Africa or south-east Asia.
Last year, two Nigerian men were extradited to the US to face charges relating to online extortion and their part in the suicide of Jordan DeMay, 17, of Michigan. Police in New South Wales announced in April that two different men had been charged in Nigeria over the alleged sexual extortion of a 16-year-old Australian boy who killed himself last year.
Dowey said: “I want whoever did this to Murray to be identified and brought to justice. But it’s not just about justice for Murray – there has to be a deterrent to these people.
“UK children are going to be more at risk if these perpetrators think: ‘I may face consequences if I do this to a US or Australian kid, but nothing happens if you do it to a UK kid’.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Inquiries are continuing to establish the full circumstances leading up to the death.”
• In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
