The friends of Molly Russell, the 14-year-old London schoolgirl who took her own life in 2017 after being exposed to harmful social media content, have spoken of their feelings of survivor guilt. In a recent inquest, it emerged that some of her friends had also viewed similar material but did not suffer the same fate.
Molly, from Harrow, north-west London, died from an act of self-harm on 21 November 2017. The senior coroner at North London coroner's court ruled that she had died while suffering from depression and 'the negative effects of online content'. Her father, Ian Russell, described the content she viewed as 'the bleakest of worlds'.
During the two-week inquest, it was revealed that Molly had viewed 16,300 pieces of content on Instagram in the six months before her death, of which 2,100 were related to suicide, self-harm and depression. She had also watched 138 videos containing suicide and self-harm content, sometimes 'bingeing' on them.
A consultant child psychiatrist told the hearing that he could not sleep for weeks after viewing the Instagram content seen by Molly just before her death. The court was also shown a succession of images and clips containing slogans relating to suicide and depression, as well as graphic images of self-harm and suicide.
Molly's family said they noticed a change in her behaviour in the last 12 months of her life, but put it down to 'normal teenage mood swings'. Her father said she appeared to be in 'good spirits' in the final two months of her life. The inquest continues.
