Does big tech monetise adolescent pain?
Father of Molly Russell, 14, said she had been sucked into a ‘vortex’ of ever darker material
“It’s the rueful half-smile that breaks my heart,” said Judith Woods in The Daily Telegraph. Ambushed by a camera-wielding parent outside their home, a younger child would have beamed or scowled.
But Molly Russell offers that “oh-go-on-then-if-you-must” expression that “every self-aware teen gives her soppy dad”. It is an “intimation of adulthood” – the willingness to make “brief accommodations” to spare other people’s feelings, and get on with the day.
But Molly will not reach adulthood. In November 2017, the 14-year-old was found dead in her bedroom, having spent months viewing online content linked to depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide. Some of it romanticised self-harm. Much of it was so graphic, bleak and violent that a psychiatrist told the inquest into Molly’s death that he’d been “unable to sleep well” for weeks after seeing it.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A ‘vortex’ of dark material
Not only had a child been able to access this distressing material, many of the posts had been provided to Molly, unasked, by Instagram and Pinterest’s “recommendation engines”, said John Naughton in The Observer. Thus the teenager – described by her father as a “positive” young woman, who seemed to be having only “normal teenage mood swings” – had been sucked into a “vortex” of ever darker material.
At the inquest, an executive from Meta, Instagram’s owner, denied that the 2,100 depression, self-harm or suicide-linked posts that Molly had liked or saved in the six months before her death were unsafe for children, and said that it was good for them to be able to share their feelings. But in what may be a world first, north London’s senior coroner ruled last week that Molly had died from an act of self-harm while suffering from depression – and “the negative effects of online content”.
Potential impact of Online Safety Bill
There are some who hope that the Government’s Online Safety Bill will make the internet safer for our children, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. But this legislation keeps being delayed because trying to ban harmful content leads ministers into a “thicket of debate about free speech and censorship”. It’s complex; it’s also a red herring.
Teenagers have always sought out dark material, and found it. The difference now is the manner in which it is delivered to them. To read one sad post may be cathartic – it’s being bombarded with them that is dangerous. This is what we should tackle: not the content itself, but Big Tech’s “relentless monetising” of people’s absorption in content about self-harm, or “anything else”. “It’s a system, a design, a business model.” And the tech giants can fix it, if we make them.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Epic meltdown'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
The World of Tim Burton: a 'creepy, witty and visually ravishing' exhibition
The Week Recommends Sprawling show at the Design Museum features over 600 exhibits from across the directors' five-decade career from early sketches to costumes and props
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: October 31, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Is the world ready for Tesla's new domestic robots?
Talking Points The debut of Elon Musk's long-promised "Optimus" at a Tesla event last week has renewed debate over the role — and feasibility — of commercial automatons
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
States sue TikTok over children's mental health
Speed Read The lawsuit was filed by 13 states and Washington, D.C.
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
The 'loyalty testers' who can check a partner's fidelity
Under The Radar The history of 'honey-trapping goes back a long way'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Elon Musk's X blinks in standoff with Brazil
Speed Read Brazil may allow X to resume operations in the country, as Musk's company agrees to comply with court demand
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Yes, I miss the dotcom era
Opinion Things didn't go as planned, but technology can still unleash creativity
By Mark Gimein Published
-
CrowdStrike: the IT update that wrought global chaos
Talking Point 'Catastrophic' consequences of software outages made apparent by last week's events
By The Week UK Published
-
Threads turns one: where does the Twitter rival stand?
In the Spotlight Although Threads is reporting 175 million active monthly users, it has failed to eclipse X as a meaningful cultural force
By Keumars Afifi-Sabet, The Week UK Published
-
The growing dystopian AI influencer economy
In the Spotlight AI-generated digital personas are giving human influencers a run for their money
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published