This weekend Mr Russell can only wait to see whether his warnings have been heeded. There are signs Monday’s announcement may leave a lot of the details to be filled in, with talk about a “direction of travel” rather than a definitive plan.
For Mr Russell, the memory of Molly is his family’s central motivator in reforming tech. “She was only 14 when she died, but she was an extraordinary individual who had so much to offer. It’s particularly painful to consider what she might have been doing with her life by now, that she never got the chance to do,” he said.
“Because Molly was that caring, compassionate, and brave person, she never liked to be the centre of attention, but she would stand up for what she felt was right, quite vociferously if she needed to.
“So we carry her memory with us every day of our lives, and the drive that Molly would have used to call for a safer online world, had she still been alive, as I have no doubt that she would be doing, remains a part of us and helps keep us going.”
A Downing Street spokesman said: “We have undertaken a thorough consultation and will set out next steps in due course.”
He added: “The prime minister has been clear that the status quo is not good enough and we need to do more to protect children.
“This is not about politics – it is about protecting children.”
An Ofcom spokesman said: “So far Ofcom has driven some of the strongest changes of any online safety regulation in the world, from widespread age checks to grooming protections for children.
“We’ve launched investigations into over 100 sites and apps and already imposed £5 million in fines – including against a prominent suicide forum.
“But the job is far from done and we share Ian Russell’s concerns that tech firms have not done nearly enough to reassure parents that they are putting children’s safety first.
“We’ve made clear that companies need to go much further, including taking swift action to make their feeds safer for children.
“Where services fail to comply with their duties, we’ve shown that we won’t hesitate to act.”