Today, at an inquest, Instagram defended the sad teenager Molly Russell’s love of suicide videos of “the most terrible sort.”
When the 14-year-old died in November 2017, Elizabeth Lagone, the head of health and wellbeing at Meta, testified in court on Friday about the picture-based social media platform’s content standards.
She stated that suicide and self-harm content was a major concern for the firm, which also owns Facebook, but that the posts that Molly viewed may have been a user’s “cry for help.”
As a result, Ms. Lagone stated that Meta had to examine the extensive and incomprehensible harm that might result from silencing [a poster’s] struggles.
Today, the coroner Andrew Walker also instructed people in attendance to leave if they were likely to be affected by the ‘disturbing’ material displayed in court that Molly seen prior to her death and ‘had no choice seeing’
He was displaying 17 films that the 14-year-old from Harrow, northwest London, had loved and saved while investigating suicide and self-harm, and which appeared to “glamorize harm to youth.”
Tragic teenager Molly Russell (shown above) was fond of ‘glamorising’ suicide films of ‘the most terrible sort’ before to her suicide, a London inquest heard today.
Elizabeth Lagone, the director of health and well-being of Meta, arrives at the Barnet Coroner’s Court.
He stated, “Be warned, the video glorifies suicide.” It is of the most traumatic sort. It is nearly impossible to observe.
I say this specifically to Molly’s family, but I believe the video footage should be viewed.
“Molly had no choice in the matter, therefore we would be modifying the footage for adult consumption when it was available in its unaltered form to children,”
Her family chose to remain in the courtroom as the films were being shown.
Molly ‘liked’ social media posts depicting individuals plunging from buildings, jumping in front of trains, and others hanging from nooses before to her suicide.
Some were depicted self-mutilating with knives and shooting themselves in the head.
The phrases ‘fat,’ ‘worthless,’ and’suicidal’ flashed across the screen between videos, while angry music played in the background.
The court was shown Instagram’s guidelines at the time, which stated that users might upload content regarding suicide and self-harm to “enable the coming together to help” other users, but not if it “encouraged or advocated” suicide or self-harm.
Ms. Lagone also denied that Instagram used Molly and other children as “guinea pigs” when it introduced content rating in 2016 — a new algorithmic technique for personalizing and organizing content.
A court heard that Molly from Harrow likes upsetting films she seen on social media.
Yesterday, as he left court, Judson Hoffman, the global head of community operations at Pinterest, stated:
Ms. Lagone then testified, after which the coroner stated, “My starting point is that the Internet is a very dangerous place for people who access it.”
Every effort should be done to ensure the safety of this trip.
The family of the 14-year-old also wants the inquest to consider 29 internal Meta documents that reportedly detail studies into the influence of online content on self-harm and suicide among adolescents.
Oliver Sanders KC, the family’s attorney, asked the executive if it was evident that children should not be exposed to “graphic suicide pictures.” The official responded, “I don’t know… these are hard issues.”
Mr. Sanders called the witness’s attention to the fact that experts had advised Meta that the content was unsuitable for children before asking, “Had they previously told you something different?”
Ms. Lagone said, “We have regular discussions with them, but there are a variety of… topics we discuss.”
Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell, arrives on Thursday at the North London Coroners Court Barnet for the inquest into his daughter’s terrible death.
In response to Molly’s family’s assertions regarding internal research, Ms. Lagone informed the court that she was unaware of any studies conducted by the internet giant into the impact of content on users of its platforms.
Mr. Sanders KC said, “Isn’t it acceptable that children, even children with depression like Molly, who were on Instagram in 2016 were used as test subjects?”
She responded, “That is specifically not how we build firm policies and procedures.”
Coroner Andrew Walker questioned the Meta executive over whether or not internal study had been conducted on the impact of self-harm-related content on users.
She stated, “I am unaware of any specific studies on the influence of content.” It would be extremely challenging to do such study in light of ethical constraints.
Later, Ms. Lagone remarked, ‘We are sure that our policies take into account the needs of our youngest consumers.’
Molly created an Instagram account in March 2015, when she was 12 years old, and she was advised to follow 34 or “maybe more” sad or melancholy Instagram accounts.
Thursday, Pinterest’s chief of community operations, Judson Hoffman, issued an apology after conceding that the platform was “not safe” when the teen used it.
Mr. Hoffman expressed “great remorse” for Molly’s viewing of Pinterest posts prior to her death, stating that he would not show such content to his children.
The investigation, which is expected to run up to two weeks, continues.