Dean Russell MP has proudly played a significant role in helping to deliver Zach’s Law over the past two years. It is now a criminal offence for anyone to attempt to trigger a seizure in someone who suffers from epilepsy by targeting them with online flashing images.
Working alongside Suzanne Webb MP, and the Daily Express Newspaper, they campaigned hard to bring this issue into the public domain and in Parliament.
Dean commented, ‘I am so proud of the role I have actively played in successfully campaigning for Zach’s Law to be included in the Online Safety Bill - to make it an offence to electronically send or show flashing images to someone with epilepsy with the intention of causing them harm. As a member of the Online Safety Bill Committee, I ensured that this issue was debated and gained support across the parties.
I have campaigned on this issue for more than two years after hearing of the traumatic and targeted online attack of Zach Eagling, who was diagnosed with both epilepsy and cerebral palsy.
Zach was sadly subjected to a terrible targeted and malicious online attack after his mother, Claire Keer, posted Zach’s achievements of completing 130 laps of their garden unaided in his efforts to raise donations for the Epilepsy Society. Hundreds of flashing images were sent to Claire’s account with the intention of causing Zach to experience a seizure.
Sadly, Zach’s experiences were not unique as thousands of other messages were sent to the Epilepsy Society's account and the accounts of followers. This continues unfortunately.
I am so pleased to see, with my encouragement, that Zach’s Law is now included in the Online Safety Bill. I engaged directly with executives of online platforms and social media bodies to ensure protections were in place to protect young and vulnerable users’.
12 year old Zach Eagling has epilepsy and cerebral palsy and was sadly one of the first victims of a terrible online attack. The new legislation contained within the Online Safety Bill, is named after Zach who has worked tirelessly with his family and the Epilepsy society to make this a reality.
As far as we are aware, this is the first time in the UK that legislation has been written specifically to protect people with epilepsy. Anyone who posts flashing images, with the intent to trigger a seizure could face five years in prison.
