Social media giants ordered to hand over material on Molly Russell
Social media giants have been ordered to handover any material they hold that could shed light on the death of teenager Molly Russell.
Senior Coroner Andrew Walker made orders Wednesday on Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp as well as Snapchat to provide evidence for the inquest of the 14-year-old, who was found dead by her family at her home in Harrow, north London, six days before her birthday in 2017.
Following her death, Molly’s father Ian accused Instagram of “helping to kill” his daughter after he discovered she had been looking at self-harm and suicide material on social media.
The orders are thought to be the first such made against tech giants in a British inquest.
During the hearing at Barnet Coroner’s Court, Jessica Elliot, a barrister representing the Russell family, said the social media platforms had created a “self-supplying world of suicide material”.
She said the family was requesting orders for Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat as it had emerged Molly had used all three apps on the night she died.
“The family are concerned that the combined affect of this material was to make suicide seem a more ready, a more normalised and acceptable option because of the world she was living in online,” said Ms Elliot.
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 gives coroners powers to compel testimony or evidence from individuals and organisations thought to have information relevant to an inquest. Failure to comply with a notice without a reasonable excuse can result in a £1,000 fine, or jail if someone is found to have concealed or destroyed evidence requested.
The investigation into the teenager’s death has thus far focused on Molly’s iPhone and iPod Touch, which her family were initially locked out of, after Apple said it was unable to break into the encrypted devices.
Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Police took the unusual step of saying it would examine both devices to provide evidence for her inquest.
In September, the force said it had retrieved evidence running to 50,000 pages of material from the devices, however there were some encrypted apps investigators were unable to get into.
Speaking yesterday, Ms Elliot said the orders were needed to build a complete picture of the teenager’s activity in the fateful hours leading up to her death.
Mr Walker granted the orders, saying evidence from the tech giants was needed to establish whether the “accumulated effect” of the material Molly was viewing “overwhelmed” the schoolgirl.
Yesterday’s orders come after it emerged Mr Walker had made one earlier this year on the social network Pinterest, on which Molly had two separate accounts.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Andrew O'Connor QC, representing Pinterest, said the company would comply with the order.
He added: “We have received the notice and Pinterest is extremely keen to do everything it can to assist the investigation.”
Following the hearing, a spokesman for Facebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, said: “We haven’t been contacted by the coroner or law enforcement. When we receive the request, we will prioritise it, and promptly respond to the coroner.”
