Tilly Rosewarne’s mum joins calls to implement age restrictions on social media

Schoolgirl Matilda ‘Tilly’ Rosewarne was a “ball of joy” with a “very big giggle” before she died by suicide following a relentless campaign of bullying that “catastrophically” escalated on social media.

Bathurst schoolgirl Matilda “Tilly” Rosewarne was a “ball of joy” with a “very big giggle” before she died by suicide following a relentless campaign of bullying which started in person and then “catastrophically” escalated on social media.

Tilly took her own life aged just 15, after she was subjected to torment in person and online.

Her mother Emma Mason remembers Tilly as a “innately kind, gentle, spirited child,” who died after “a thousand cuts” over the course of her short life.

Tilly Rosewarne took her own life at 15.

Tilly was a ‘kind, gentle, spirited child,’ according to her mum.

“It began with bullying and it has been blown apart by social media and the power and the swiftness by which information can be passed between children,” Ms Mason said.

“That’s the way harm can be catastrophically distributed among people”.

The bullying first started in primary school, when Tilly was excluded from parties and events. It then escalated online with cyber-bullying and suicide taunts.

Among the torment, a fake nude image of Tilly was shared on Snapchat.

“By 3pm, one nude had been spread from the person who created it to the next person and then it went outwards,” Ms Mason said.

“By 3.40pm, 100 people had seen that – 100 children had seen that fake nude. And by the time it got to 4.30pm, it was well over 1000 people that had seen it, when we became aware of it.

“The harm was real. The harm was instant. It was everywhere.”

Tilly Rosewarne’s mother, Emma Mason. Picture: Richard Dobson

By 6pm there was a suicide attempt and hospital admission. Tilly attempted suicide on 11 occasions, and on the 12th occasion, she died.

Ms Mason said a complaint was lodged with police, but authorities found it “very, very hard” to get information from Snapchat about who shared the fake nude.

“This was even when they had evidence of who sent it,” she said.

Ms Mason, who has campaigned for action to stop online bullying since Tilly died, is joining calls to increase the age that children can access social media.

“It’s about access to social media and what age it is appropriate to do that,” Ms Mason said.

“It’s (also) about parents monitoring what their children are doing online, and that’s really hard.”

Ms Mason said social media companies should also be forced to hand over information about their users more quickly to authorities.

She said the current process for police to access information about social media users in the case of potential offences is far too slow.

She called for social media companies to be forced to quickly share details about users’ “handles”, or usernames, with authorities.

She said keeping children off social media until 16 would “certainly” help keep kids safe, as long as it was enforceable.

“I certainly do think (we should) increase the age, but then there has to be a link to an adult that’s confirming the age of the person,” she said.

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