This newsletter contains mentions of suicide and self-harm. If you need support text MRF to 85258 to message a trained volunteer.
This month Molly Rose Foundation released a report Pervasive-by-design, demonstrating that suicide and self-harm content is still being recommended at “industrial scale” by TikTok and Instagram, eight years after Molly Russell’s death. The new research found algorithmically driven depression, suicide and self-harm content being recommended at a vast scale to accounts opened as a 15-year-old girl.
Remember if you need support, you can contact someone you trust for help. You are not alone and it is OK not to be OK.
Policy
Our new report Pervasive-by-design comes as Ofcom begins implementing its children’s safety codes under the Online Safety Act claiming to stand ready to “tame toxic algorithms”.
Produced in partnership with The Bright Initiative by Bright Data, it found that the material recommended by both TikTok and Instagram would have the same harmful impact as content which Molly Russell saw before her death in 2017.
On teenage accounts which had engaged with suicide, self-harm and depression posts, the research shows algorithms continue to bombard young people with a tsunami of harmful content on Instagram Reels and TikTok’s For You page. The report found:
- Almost all of the recommended videos watched on Instagram Reels (97%) and TikTok (96%) were found to be harmful: bombarding teens with harmful content in a similar way to what happened to Molly.
- Over half (55%) of recommended harmful posts on TikTok’s For You Page actively contained references to suicide and self-harm ideation and 16% referenced suicide methods: recommended videos included posts that promoted and glorified suicide, referenced suicide methods and normalised intense feelings of misery and despair.
- Harmful content is achieving deeply disturbing levels of reach: one in ten harmful videos on TikTok’s For You Page had been liked at least a million times, and on Instagram Reels one in five harmful recommended videos had been liked more than 250,000 times.
- New high-risk features on TikTok’s For You Page make it even more likely teenagers can discover rabbit holes in a single click: for example, new AI generated search prompts shown alongside recommended content even introduced researchers to new suicide methods.
Conducted in the weeks leading up to the implementation of the Online Safety Act, the research found both platforms to be gaming Ofcom’s new rules.
While both platforms had enabled teenagers to offer negative feedback on content being recommended to them, as required by Ofcom, they had also provided an option to be recommended more harmful content – including suicide and intense depression posts.
The research, conducted with cooperation from the Conscious Advertising Network, also found how platforms are profiting from large companies advertising adjacent to harmful posts. Researchers were shown advertising adjacent to harmful material for one of every 9.5 For You Page posts watched consecutively on TikTok, and for one in every ten Reels watched on Instagram. These included major fashion retailers popular with teenagers, fast food brands and UK universities.
Ian Russell, Chair of Molly Rose Foundation, said: “It is staggering that eight years after Molly’s death incredibly harmful suicide, self-harm and depression content like she saw is still pervasive across social media.
“Ofcom’s recent child safety codes do not match the sheer scale of harm being suggested to vulnerable users and ultimately do little to prevent more deaths like Molly’s.
“For over a year, this entirely preventable harm has been happening on the Prime Minister’s watch and where Ofcom have been timid it is time for him to be strong and bring forward strengthened, life-saving legislation without delay.”
Molly Rose Foundation is calling for the Government to step in and introduce a strengthened Online Safety Act that ensures companies have to address and mitigate all the risks young people are exposed to on their platforms. It also urges Ofcom to commit to tougher action and ambition in its regulatory approach.
Education, training and support
If you would like to host a session please email us at training@mollyrosefoundation.org and please scroll down to learn more about the My Bag of Happiness initiative.
Get involved
£15 could send two out boxes of Where to find Help cards for young people to pick up and find mental health support in a time of crisis.
£30 could fund Youth Mental Health First Aid course materials to help young people (16+) become mental health first aid champions and support their younger peers.
£50 could go towards delivering a free My Bag of Happiness session to primary school children equipping them with tools to express their feelings and gain strength from happy memories.
You can make a donation or take on your own fundraising challenge today to help create a world where children and young people can live long and stay strong.
My Bag of Happiness
Suitable for children aged between 7-11, the My Bag of Happiness scheme supports PSHE lessons and encourages children to create and collect happy memories, enabling them to reflect upon these and gain strength when needed.
Feedback tells us this initiative is empowering for the children who take part and equips them with vital tools with which to express themselves.
If you are a teacher or parent and would like to receive one or more of these Molly Rose Foundation-designed My Bag of Happiness packs please contact us via training@mollyrosefoundation.org to submit your request, letting us know the relevant information (including your name, address, contact details, number of packs required etc). Any additional background details you can provide us with about why you’d like one or more of these packs would also be appreciated.
Molly Rose Foundation staff are also available to run workshops using the packs and will happily come into schools in the London area to do this. Our trainers are DBS checked and are used to working with children in schools. To arrange a workshop please contact us at: training@mollyrosefoundation.org
Donations directly to the My Bag of Happiness initiative can be made here.
News
Molly Rose Foundation robustly challenged Reform’s suggestion it will scrap the Online Safety Act, with Chief Executive Andy Burrows stating: “Scrapping the OSA would be a retrograde move that would not only put children at greater risk but is out of step with the mood of the public.
“In fact, our polling shows that voters across the political spectrum want stronger online safety laws not weaker ones, and politicians on all sides would do well to listen to them.”
The polling conducted by YouGov of over 2,000 adults, found an overwhelming majority of parents (85%) would support a new Online Safety Act that strengthens online safety for children.
It also found that just nine percent of parents think Ofcom are doing enough to protect the online safety of children and eight percent think Government are. Six percent think social media platforms are doing enough.
Andy added: “The Online Safety Act is an important building block that needs strengthening and decisive action to do this would be cheered on by parents and grandparents up and down the country.”
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To see more MRF news and press releases, please visit our news section.
Support in crisis
This year so far, we have sent out 53,725 Where To Find Help cards in response to 182 requests. Since the charity began operating, we have distributed more than 239,000.
These popular pocked-sized help cards feature four different messages of reassurance and provide information signposting children and young people to mental health support services.
Some of our recent feedback: “We will use these cards in emotional wellbeing boxes to support young people to stay well and access services that can support them in their moments of need.”
“We have a cohort of students struggling with poor mental health. We support them in school and would like to extend our support over the holiday period. The cards are an amazing resource and we feel they would really help.”
We also welcome requests from universities, colleges and schools. If you are an individual with a connection to any of these, please get in touch.
Each box contains approximately 140 cards with a list of recommended organisations that can help in varying circumstances. On the reverse side you’ll find printed one of four different inspiring quotes.
If you require more than one box, please state how many in the comments section online and we will arrange delivery of any amount required.
Other ways to support us
Become a regular donor – Click here to view our Enthuse platform, where you can view fundraising events already in place and where you can take the opportunity to start fundraising yourself. Alternatively, click here where you can make a donation directly.
