Coroner Concludes Online Content Helped Kill Depressed London Teen in Landmark Ruling
“Negative effects of online content” was a contributing factor in the death of a British school girl who took her own life in 2017, a coroner concluded on Friday.
Coroner Andrew Walker, who made the conclusion, said the ruling is “the first time” that “tech platforms have been formally held responsible for the death of a child.”
Molly Russell, a 14-year-old girl from Harrow, northwest London, who her father said showed no obvious signs of mental illness, took her own life on Nov. 21, 2017, after viewing online content related to depression and self-harm for months.
Following a five-year inquest, Walker, who presided over the inquest, told North London Coroner’s Court that it “would not be safe to leave suicide as a conclusion.”…