Social media firm 'sorry' girl who took her own life was able to see self-harm posts

Leading social media platform Pinterest has said it is "sorry" that a 14-year-old girl who took her own life was able to view graphic self-harm content on its channels.

This week, a court overseeing an inquest into the death of Molly Russell was shown streams of content that the teen saw in the months preceding her death.

The court heard that Ms Russell was sent emails with headings such as "10 depression pins you might like" and "depression recovery, depressed girl and more pins trending on Pinterest".

The content Molly looked at in the weeks leading to her tragic death was focused on self-harm, depression and suicide. Her family feel that this influenced her actions.

Speaking at the inquest on Wednesday, Molly's father Ian Russell urged action to "prevent such a young life being wasted again". He said:

"No one is immune from such tragedy, it is closer to all of us than we would care to think, and breaking the stigma that surrounds mental health, self-harm and suicide is literally vital," he said.

CARE campaigns for better laws governing online safety to ensure that all children in the UK have the same protections both offline and online.

We are currently urging politicians to bring tougher regulation of various platforms including social media companies, including punishments for exposing children to explicit content.

To find out more about our CARE's work in this area, visit our cause page: Online Safety | CARE