World News for Students of English

06-10-2022 15:00

In 2017, 14-year-old Molly Russel took her own life after she saw extensive images and videos about suicide, depression, self-harm and anxiety.

An inquest into Molly’s death concluded that harmful online content was a factor in her death. The girl suffered from depression and online content’s negative effects. She saved 2,100 images on Instagram related to depression, self-harm, and suicide.

Since her death, Molly’s father has campaigned tirelessly for better Internet safety, and he welcomed the verdict on Friday. He said that it was time the toxic culprit culture changed at Instagram. He added it was time to protect innocent young people and not allow platforms to make profits from their misery.

Several social media experts and representatives heard the inquest; they said that some of Molly’s posts violated the platform’s guidelines, and some of the content on social media shouldn’t be available for a child to see. According to one of the psychiatrists, the chance was very important to make the Internet safer.

Difficult words: inquest (an official examination), campaign (organized actions to achieve a goal), culprit (a criminal).

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