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Instagram Vows To Remove All Graphic Self-Harm Images From Site (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the cracking-down dept.

All graphic images of self-harm will be removed from Instagram, the head of the social media platform has told the BBC. From a report: The move comes after the father of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life in 2017, said Instagram had "helped kill" his daughter. Molly's family found she had been viewing graphic images of self-harm on the site prior to her death. Adam Mosseri said Instagram was trying to balance "the need to act now and the need to act responsibly". He added the site was "not where we need to be on the issues of self-harm and suicide". When asked by the BBC's Angus Crawford when the images would be removed, Mr Mosseri replied: "As quickly as we can, responsibly." Molly's father Ian Russell welcomed Instagram's commitment and said he hoped they would act swiftly to implement their plans.

6 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Does this mean theyâ(TM)ll ban all trannies from posting pictures of themselves??

    1. Re:Hmm by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      WTF is with all the transphobia on here recently.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  2. Umm, yeah by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This unfortunate young lady was not killed over depression or some other personal problem, it was because she looked at some pictures on instagram. Hold on here.

    I can sympathize with her family, what a sad experience.

    But here is the big problem if you are going to sanitize Instagram or other Social media because you are somehow responsible for killing people with depression or mental illness.

    Depressed people often see happy people, and become angry or more depressed. Might an image of a happy person be the trigger for them finally killing themselves? So Perhaps Instagram needs to police and eliminate images of people having a good time because if they don't, they murdered someone.

    This policing is showing a remarkable misunderstanding of depression and mental illness.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Umm, yeah by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wonder how many troubled teens have looked at similar pictures on Instagram and then said to themselves "What the hell was I thinking" and then quietly didn't do anything unfortunate.

  3. post hoc ergo propter hoc by SuricouRaven · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...

  4. Wow, that could be a lot of images banned. by bob4u2c · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So that means no images with someone who's used Botox, no images of someone drunk, no images of someone smoking, no images of someone with a cast on, no images of any kind of piercings, I could go on.

    When you throw out a generic term like "self harm" your going to exclude a lot more stuff than you ever intended. For example, I might classify a tattoo as self harm, some might not. Pretty soon all we end up with is cute cat pictures playing with yarn because, awwwwe.

    Stop trying to bubble wrap the world. My bigger concern would have been that my child was seeking out self harm images in the first place.