Friends of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life in 2017, are speaking publicly for the first time.
An inquest concluded that Molly had been struggling with depression and was exposed to harmful content online that contributed to her death.
Now, Molly’s friends speak about the addictive pull of Instagram, the shock of seeing the content she had viewed, and their anger at what they describe as Meta’s ‘cold’ and ‘inhumane’ response.
Meta said they "don’t allow content that promotes suicide or self-harm" adding that they take action on 98% of the content before it’s reported to them. After the inquest, a spokeswoman for Meta said the company was "committed to ensuring that Instagram is a positive experience for everyone, particularly teenagers" and that it would "carefully consider the coroner’s full report when he provides it".
However, Meta’s boss, Mark Zuckerberg, has acknowledged that in the new world order, Instagram is likely to catch less harmful content – not more.
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