Coroner issues 'greatest' warning as Instagram videos viewed by Molly Russell shown to court
Molly's family decided to stay in the courtroom as the videos were played
A coroner issued the "greatest" warning to an inquest into the death of schoolgirl Molly Russell - as the court was shown videos of "the most distressing nature" the teenager liked or saved on Instagram.
Coroner Andrew Walker told the inquest the 17 clips appeared to "glamorise harm to young people" and told those present to leave if they were likely to be affected by the material.
On Friday, the head of health and wellbeing at Instagram's parent company Meta, Elizabeth Lagone, defended the social media platform's content policies - saying suicide and self-harm material could have been posted by a user as a "cry for help".
Ms Lagone told the court it was an important consideration of the company, even in its policies at the time of Molly's death, to "consider the broad and unbelievable harm that can be done by silencing (a poster's) struggles".
Before the clips were played, North London Coroner's Court was told lawyers and the coroner had discussed whether to edit them beforehand because they were "so uncomfortable to view".
The coroner said: "But Molly had no such choice, so we would in effect be editing the footage for adult viewing when it was available in an unedited form for a child."
Molly, from Harrow in north-west London, died in November 2017, prompting her family to campaign for better internet safety.
Instagram's guidelines at the time, which were shown to the court, said users were allowed to post content about suicide and self-harm to "facilitate the coming together to support" other users but not if it "encouraged or promoted".
Describing footage the court was about to see, the coroner said on Friday: "It's of the most distressing nature and it's almost impossible to watch.
"If you are likely to be affected by any such videos, please do not stay to view them."
Turning to the schoolgirl's family, the coroner said: "There's no need for any of you to stay.
"In my view, this sequence of video footage ought to be seen (by the court)."
The court was then played the clips, which related to suicide, drugs, alcohol, depression and self-harm content.
Molly's family decided to stay in the courtroom as the videos were played, but the coroner elected to take a 15-minute break in proceedings afterwards.
Ms Lagone then took to the witness box before the coroner said: "My starting point is the internet is a very dangerous place for those who enter into it.
"Every effort should be made to make that journey as safe as possible."
Asked by the family's lawyer Oliver Sanders KC whether it was obvious it was not safe for children to see "graphic suicide imagery", the executive said: "I don't know... these are complicated issues."
Mr Sanders drew the witness's attention to experts who had informed Meta it was not safe for children to view the material, before asking: "Had they previously told you something different?"
Ms Lagone responded: "We have ongoing discussions with them but there are any number of... issues we talk about with them."
On Thursday, Pinterest's head of community operations, Judson Hoffman, apologised after admitting the platform was "not safe" when the 14-year-old used it.
Mr Hoffman said he "deeply regrets" posts viewed by Molly on Pinterest before her death, saying it was material he would "not show to my children".
The inquest, due to last up to two weeks, continues.