The coroner who presided over schoolgirl Molly Russell's inquest has said the Government should consider separate social media platforms for children and adults. Molly, 14, from Harrow in north-west London, died in November 2017 after viewing content related to suicide, depression and self-harm online.
At the inquest last month, coroner Andrew Walker ruled Molly "died from an act of self-harm whilst suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content". He has now issued a prevention of future deaths report, recommending that the Government reviews the provision of internet platforms to children.
As part of that review, he said, it should look at: separate sites for children and adults; checking a user's age before they sign up to a platform; providing age-appropriate content to children; the use of algorithms to provide content; advertising to children; and parental or guardian access to a child's social media account. The prevention of future deaths report was sent on Thursday to firms including Meta, Pinterest, Twitter and Snapchat, as well as the UK Government.
