A Church of England bishop has called for social media companies to be regulated to protect children from online abuse and bullying.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek, called for regulations similar to those in Germany where firms can face fines of up to £44 million if they fail to delete harmful posts within 24 hours of a complaint.

Treweek was speaking in the light of the death of 14-year-old Mollie Russell, who took her own life after viewing pages showing self-harm.

She told the Telegraph: 'I would like to see a much more robust system of reporting. Young people need to feel in control when they report something that upsets or harms them. There needs to be a system whereby the companies are held to account.'

She said: 'There should be a way where we can fine them if they don't take a complaint seriously. We have managed to regulate electricity, where there's an ombudsman. Or if you buy something in the shops, you can complain to a consumer body.

'There needs to be a way where the social media companies have to show what they have done and an ombudsman system to take action if people are not content, with some sort of fining system like Germany's. It is about stick and carrot.'

Her comments follow criticisms of social media platforms by the children's commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, who in an open letter to Facebook Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Pinterest and Snapchat called for a 'moment of reflection'. She said: 'I would appeal to you to accept there are problems and to commit to tackling them – or admit publicly that you are unable to.'