Oldham MP wishes strength to family of Molly Russell

The inquest will examine whether algorithms used by social media firms to keep users hooked contributed to her death.

Molly, from Harrow in north west London, viewed content linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide before she took her own life in November 2017.

Since then, her family has campaigned for better internet safety.

On Twitter, MP Debbie Abrahams tweeted her support.

Ms Abrahams said: “Wishing her family every strength as they go through the inquest.”

Following Molly’s death, her family set up the Molly Rose Foundation, a charity aiming to prevent suicide, targeted at those under the age of 25.

The Oldham East and Saddleworth MP told The Oldham Times that her views relate to her time on the pre-legislative scrutiny Committee of the Online Safety Bill, where MPs heard evidence from a range of stakeholders, including Molly’s father Ian Russell.

Mr Russell told the committee of the foundation’s charitable work, and of the difficulties parents face looking into the safety implications of social media platforms.

The MP told The Oldham Times his evidence was “incredibly moving but also compelling”.

Senior employees from social media giants Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, and Pinterest, are due to give evidence in person at the North London Coroner’s Court in Barnet after a request to give evidence remotely was refused.

Debbie Abrahams MP

While Molly did not have a Facebook profile, she was engaging with Instagram posts about 130 times a day on average.

The court previously heard how on Twitter, Molly tweeted or retweeted 460 times, liked 4,100 tweets, was following 116 accounts and had 42 followers.

She was a much more active user of Pinterest, with more than 15,000 engagements, including 3,000 saves, in the last six months of her life.

Coroner Andrew Walker previously challenged social media companies to “help make the internet a safer place”, before adding “the earlier the parties turn their minds to that matter, the better solutions we may have in due course”.

A pre-inquest review in September 2020 heard how a huge volume of “pretty dreadful” Instagram posts had been disclosed to the investigation.

Since his daughter’s death, Molly’s father Ian Russell has been a vocal campaigner for reform of social media platforms and set up the Molly Rose Foundation in her memory.

The inquest is set to last up to two weeks.

If you feel you are in a mental health crisis or emergency and may be in danger of causing harm to yourself or others then please contact your GP, the Samaritans on 116 123 or attend A&E.