An inquest into the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life after looking at self-harm posts on Instagram, has been delayed after Facebook owner Meta submitted 36,000 pages of data to the coroner.
The schoolgirl, from Harrow in north west London, viewed material linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide before taking her own life in November 2017.
Her inquest will look at how algorithms used by social media giants to keep users hooked may have contributed to her death.
However, her family have today vented their ‘frustration and regret’ at the interested parties, including themselves, having not being sent the posts earlier – resulting in the full inquest, which was due to begin next month, having to be delayed again.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook and the parent company that owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has delivered thousands of harmful posts that the schoolgirl saw on her account.
The company said it did not accept the family’s criticism raised in open court, adding that its delivery of more than 12,500 posts, including some hidden behind private accounts, was ‘unprecedented’.
It came after a coroner ordered Meta to divulge the data at a pre-inquest review last month, despite protestations over privacy and data protection obligations.
Meta was also ordered to disclose documents and data in relation to research it had conducted into the harm that may be caused to children by using its platforms.
Molly Russell (pictured) took her own life after viewing ‘dreadful’ self harm posts on social media
The 14-year-old (pictured in 2009), from Harrow in north-west London, viewed material linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide before ending her life in November 2017
Oliver Saunders QC, representing Molly’s family, said: ‘Can I start with our submissions to say that frustratingly and regrettably we are in a position that the hearing in 12 working days is not going to be viable.
‘There are a number of reasons for that: there are too many unresolved matters for an inquest to go ahead. Meta has issued a second statement which appears on the face of it does not address all of the issues raised.
‘The material as ordered by you at the last hearing has been provided to you but not any of the interested persons: the 12,500 posts.
‘You have a volume of material that we have not yet seen. I understand Meta wishes to make further submissions on these images. We don’t know what’s in that material and don’t know what those submissions might be so we can’t deal with them.
‘There is a considerable volume of material that we need to be able to view, assess and follow through before the hearing can go ahead.
‘Before Mr Russell can finalise his witness statement, he wants to reflect on full disclosure on what he has learned and give evidence on behalf of the family which is, of course, an important matter.
‘I should say this is unfamiliar territory for all the advocates. By comparison with a more commonplace death such as one in custody, we would have a certain background on the procedures enabling preparation to take place much more quickly.
‘For everyone involved, it’s going to take a long time to get to where we are and what questions we needed to put to the witnesses.’
An earlier hearing was told Molly used her Instagram account more than 120 times a day.
She liked more than 11,000 pieces of content and shared material more than 3,000 times, including 1,500 videos.
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The teenager also used picture-sharing platform Pinterest more than 15,000 times over the same period.
At North London Coroner’s Court today, Senior Coroner Andrew Walker adjourned the inquest until at least mid-September.
The court heard new coding had to be created to view the documents of Instagram posts and videos which would run to 36,000 pages if printed out and over 50 binders if printed double-sided.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC (CORR), representing Meta, said the material will be presented in the chronology in which Molly interacted with it, rather than the dates in which the posts were made – creating further delays lasting at least a month.
She said: ‘I do think it is important to put on the record the criticism by the family is not accepted by Meta. Meta has genuinely sought to engage throughout the process following the Section 5 notice in February 2020 [the order to provide Instagram posts].
Molly’s father Ian Russell (pictured in 2017) has campaigned for social media reform since her death and has set up charity the Molly Rose Foundation
Molly (pictured in 2015) liked more than 11,000 pieces of content and shared material more than 3,000 times, including 1,500 videos
‘It was only in December 2021 that Meta was made an interested [party] and Meta has engaged at great speed in order to meet disclosure requirements.
‘It was on February 18 that the notice was given to provide these posts. This was unprecedented, even going beyond criminal matters, and in order to comply has required a laborious effort with individuals writing new specific scripts of code specifically for this task.
‘There are multiple people engaged in this task in order to provide these documents quickly and as accessible as possible. Meta of course did not provide specifically the private accounts due to privacy and GDPR considerations.
‘That is to balance the requirements of the court and respecting Instagram users’ choice to have a private account, including children.
‘Much of the material is from children with innocuous posts, posts by children with Snapchat filters that were liked by Molly.
‘We are committed to ensure that we can provide for you, the family, and other interest persons in an easy-to-follow format in notices that you have made today.’
Molly’s father Ian Russell attended the 40-minute hearing remotely on Wednesday.
He has campaigned for social media reform since her death and has set up a charity named the Molly Rose Foundation.
Interested parties at the inquest will next convene on a suitable time, when a date will be fixed at the next pre-inquest hearing – which was not set today.
Molly’s death is one of the reasons the government is seeking to clamp down on abuses of power by social media giants in a new Online Safety Bill.
The bill seeks to impose a duty of care on tech giants to stop them allowing users to view harmful material.
A White Paper outlining the legislation was first drafted in 2019, but the bill is still going through Parliament.
For confidential support, log on to samaritans.org or call the Samaritans on 116123.
Source: Daily Mail
