Online material from sites including Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram and Pinterest Inc. played a “more than minimal” part in a teenager girl’s death, according to a London judge.
Coroner Andrew Walker concluded on Friday that Molly Russell’s death in 2017 at the age of 14 could not be classified as suicide because it was “an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content.”
The verdict came after a two-week London inquest into whether social media played a role in her death. During the hearings, executives from Meta and Pinterest were questioned about whether the algorithms used on their social media sites exacerbated her mental health.
A slew of lawsuits against Big Tech have been filed in the United States by young people who claim social media addiction caused them to develop serious mental health issues. Frances Haugen, a Meta whistleblower, accused the company of knowingly preying on vulnerable young people in order to increase profits.
“We’re committed to ensuring that Instagram is a positive experience for everyone, particularly teenagers, and we will carefully consider the Coroner’s full report when he provides it,” a Meta spokesperson said.
Russell had liked, shared, or saved a total of 16,300 posts on Instagram, 2,100 of which were self-harm related, in the six-months before her death, according to her family’s lawyers. On Pinterest, Russell had 5,793 pin impressions and 2,692 close-ups in the same time period — types of engagement on the site.
“The platforms operated in such a way using algorithms as to result, in some circumstances, of binge periods of images, video clips and text,” which “romanticized acts of self-harm” and “sought to isolate and discourage discussion with those who may have been able to help,” Walker said.
The Russell family’s lawyer, Oliver Sanders, asked the judge on Friday to send instructions on how to prevent this from happening again to Pinterest, Meta, the UK government, and the communications regulator.
“We’ve continued to strengthen our policies around self-harm content over the past few years,” Pinterest said in response to the ruling. “Molly’s story has strengthened our commitment to providing a safe and positive environment for our pinners.”
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