Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell age 14, has accused Instagram of being his daughter’s death who committed suicide.

Since the beginning of 2019 the number of suicide have increased and to the surprise of many social media has been reported as the cause.

Molly Died Because of Insagram?

“It was just any other day coming to an end” says Ian, “she had done her homework changed into her night clothes and got ready to for school the next morning”. But when morning came everything changed as Ian after entering his daughter’s room found her dead.

Upon investigation, police found depressing and self-harming images and videos on her Instagram account which was shocking.

While talking to media, Ian said, “he didn’t understand, why her daughter was looking at such things and more importantly how did she get access to these videos and images.”

Experts say that for children to access such material online is so easy. Glen Flynn, an anti-suicide activist while talking to the media  said  that the number of children committing suicide has increased and social media has played a part in it. He further commented that suicide is no joke and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

There are just too many loopholes

Instagram like many social media platform works on algorithms that suggest material according to the topics you search. So if you search any harmful topic, all the videos and pictures related to it will show up .There are filters which prevent toxic material from showing but many experts say those filters are of little to no use as there are too many loopholes.

Instagram responded by declining all interviews and said that they regularly check for any harmful user material and remove it. They take user health very seriously and take strict action against people that break its rules. 

How do images and videos affect your mood?

There is concrete proof that shows videos and images influence the way you think. When you are viewing something funny, you laugh and become happy. In this case, seeing suicidal and depressing content made Molly feel so sick and miserable about herself that she took her own life.

The government has urged parents and schools to monitor their online activities to ensure child safety. The government further told social media companies to improve their rules regarding user health. YouTube recently banned dangerous and distressing pranks to keep the harmful videos at bay.