Friday 30 September 2022 06:53 PM Molly Russell's tweet to JK Rowling as coroner says 14-year-old 'turned to ... trends now

Tragic Molly Russell turned to JK Rowling and other celebrities including US actress Lili Reinhart and YouTuber Salice Rose for help in a series of haunting tweets just weeks before she killed herself - after a coroner found the content on Pintrest and Meta-owned Instagram contributed to her death.

An inquest was told the 14-year-old accessed material from the 'ghetto of the online world' before her death in November 2017, with her family arguing sites such as Pinterest and Instagram recommended accounts or posts that 'promoted' suicide and self-harm.

The hearing painted a grim portrait of the lonely and toxic 'ghetto of the online world' that Molly was immersed in - including the heartbreaking revelation that Molly turned to high profile celebrities including Rowling, Reinhart and Rose for help not realising there was little chance they would ever see her messages.

In a tweet shared weeks before she took her own life, Molly messaged the Harry Potter author to share how the series of books had helped her. From a now-deleted account, Molly wrote in October 2017: '@jk_rowling my mind has been full of suicidal thoughts for a while but reading HP and the world you created is my escape.'

The month before, she also tweeted Phora, who has 380,000 followers, in September saying: 'kinda wanna kill myself, please help'.

She also messaged Californian influence Rose who had shared details of her mental health struggles online. Tweets directed at YouTuber Rose, said: 'I can't do it any more. I give up.' Another said: 'I don't fit in this world. Everyone is better off without me...'

The tweets were sent a few months before the teenager died.

Giving evidence, her father Ian Russell told Barnet Coroner's Court: 'It was only after her death that we were made aware that she set up an alternative Twitter account that she used to communicate in a way she wouldn't have wanted to share with the family.

Molly Russell researched disturbing content online before taking her own life in November 2017

A tweet sent on Molly's secret account weeks before she died

Molly Russell (left). Her father Ian Russell (right) arriving at Barnet Coroner's Court

How is social media regulated and how could laws now change?

Currently, most social media and search engine platforms that operate in the UK are not subject to any large-scale regulations specifically concerning user safety beyond a handful of laws that refer to the sending of threatening or indecent electronic communications.

Instead, these platforms are relied upon to self-regulate, using a mixture of human moderators and artificial intelligence to find and take down illegal or harmful material proactively or when users report it to them. Platforms lay out what types of content are and are not allowed on their sites in their terms of service and community guidelines, which are regularly updated to reflect on the evolving themes and trends that appear in the rapidly moving digital world.

However, critics say this system is flawed for a number of reasons, including that what is and is not regarded as safe or acceptable online can vary widely from site to site, and many moderation systems struggle to keep up with the vast amounts of content being posted.

Concerns have also been raised about the workings of algorithms used to serve users with content a platform thinks might interest them - often this is based on a user's habits on the site and can mean that someone who searches for material linked to depression or self-harm could be shown more of it in the future. In addition, some platforms argue that certain types of content which are not illegal - but could be considered offensive or potentially harmful by some - should be allowed to remain online to protect free speech and expression.

As a result, large amounts of harmful content can be found on social media today as platforms struggle with moderating the sheer scale of content being posted and the balancing act of allowing users to express themselves while trying to keep their online spaces safe.

During the inquest, evidence given by executives from both Meta and Pinterest highlighted these issues. Pinterest executive Judson Hoffman admitted the platform was 'not safe' when Molly accessed it in 2017 because it did not have in place the technology it has now.

And Meta executive Elizabeth Lagone's evidence highlighted the issue of understanding the context of certain posts when she said some of the content seen by Molly was 'safe' or 'nuanced and complicated', arguing that in some instances it was 'important' to give people a voice if they were expressing suicidal thoughts.

During the inquest, coroner Andrew Walker said the opportunity to make social media safe must not 'slip away', as he voiced concerns about the platforms. He outlined a range of concerns including a lack of separation of children and adults on social media; age verification and the type of content available and recommended by algorithms to children; and insufficient parental oversight for under-18s.

The UK's plan to change this landscape is the Online Safety Bill, which would for the first time compel platforms to protect users from online harm, particularly children, by requiring them to take down illegal and other harmful content, and is due to be reintroduced to Parliament soon.

Companies in scope will be required to spell out clearly in their terms of service what content they consider to be acceptable and how they plan to prevent harmful material from being seen by their users. It is also expected to require firms to be more transparent about how their algorithms work and to set out clearly how younger users will be protected from harm.

The new regulations will be overseen by Ofcom and those found to breach the rules could face large fines or be blocked in the UK. The conclusion of the inquest into Molly's death is expected to see renewed calls for the new rules to be swiftly introduced.

'I believe that social media helped kill my daughter and I believe that sort of content is still there.'

Though she spent much less time on Twitter than other platforms, the content she shared and tweets she sent are significant nonetheless in giving a tragic insight into her deteriorating mental health.

Mr Russell believes the handle 'Idfc_nomore' stands for 'I don't f****** care no more.'

Her first activity was in December 2016 - just under a year before her death - when she retweeted an account dedicated to tweeting quotes about depression.

It said : 'I'm so tired of feeling unwanted and helpless. Even with friends surrounding me, I feel like an outcast.'

The first tweet she wrote her self was in February 2017 when she quoted a poem by model and actress Cara Delevingne about her own struggle with depression. The tweet read: 'I don't need to be saved, I need to be found.'

A day after her first tweet, she posted a screenshot from her Pinterest account with a message that said just because she had a happy home life it did not mean she wasn't struggling with mental health problems. It ended: 'Mental disorders don't care about your situation in life'

In July 2017, a few months before she began messaging celebrities, it appears her mental health was deteriorating as she posted a string of tweets, telling her followers 'Everyone is better off without me..', that she was 'irrelevant' and her friends and family could live without her, and finally 'I don't fit in this world'.

Mr Russell told the court that Molly was calling out into an 'empty void' as the celebrities with millions of followers wouldn't have noticed his daughter's tweets.

Welling up as he ended proceedings at a press conference in Barnet, north London, on Friday, his voice broke as he said: 'Thank you, Molly, for being my daughter. Thank you.'

Concluding it would not be 'safe' to rule the cause of Molly's death as suicide, Mr Walker said the teenager 'died from an act of self-harm while suffering depression and the negative effects of online content'.

At North London Coroner's Court, he said: 'At the time that these sites were viewed by Molly, some of these sites were not safe as they allowed access to adult content that should