{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Cybertraps Podcast","title":"The Negative Effects of Online Content Cybertraps 138","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2273,"description":"News Item: Molly Russell, a 14-year-old girl living in London, committed suicide in November 2017. Earlier today (Sept. 30, 2022), a senior coroner ruled that her death was the result of depression and “the negative effects of online content.” Inquest A two-week inquest into the cause of Russell’s death focused on her use of Instagram and Pinterest Process was very slow due to lengthy response time by tech giants Evidence showed that she viewed a variety of graphic content in the months before her death “Molly viewed more than 16,000 pieces of content on Instagram in the final six months of her life, of which 2,100 were related to suicide, self-harm and depression. The inquest also heard how she had compiled a digital pinboard on Pinterest with 469 images related to similar subjects.” “Algorithms, which curate a user’s online experience, recommended 34 Instagram accounts to Molly that were either “sad or depressive related”, while Pinterest sent a message to Molly’s email address recommending “10 depression pins you might like”.” The coroner found that some of the sites she viewed were “not safe” because they allowed her to view content inappropriate for a 14-year-old Ian Russell, Molly’s father, said “his daughter had reached out for help on Twitter to personalities with thousands or even millions of followers, who would not even necessarily notice a tweet from someone like Molly.” “One message, sent to US actress Lili Reinhart, which was read to the court, said: ”I can’t take it any more. I need to reach out to someone, I just can’t take it.\" “It is likely that the above material viewed by Molly, already suffering with a depressive illness and vulnerable due to her age, affected her in a negative way and contributed to her death in a more than minimal way,” the coroner said. “Elizabeth Lagone, the head of health and wellbeing policy at Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, admitted Molly had viewed posts that violated its content...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/-npbjlTwEpH5Ybi_ySNRhS-EfNqaI7Ep1svTppTGhLE/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzQxNTcyLzE2ODM5/MjY0NDktYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}