Prince William makes plea for online safety for children

Prince William has made a plea for young people's online safety, following the inquest into a British schoolgirl's death. 14-year-old Molly Russell died from an act of self-harm while suffering depression and the negative effects of online content.

On Friday, 30 September 2022, the senior coroner at North London coroner’s court ruled at the end of a two-week hearing that Molly had died from an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and “the negative effects of online content.”

Molly took her own life in 2017

On the evening of 20 November 2017 Molly Russell and her family had dinner together and then sat down to watch TV. As Molly’s mother, Janet, said to police: “Everybody’s behaviour was normal” at dinner time.

The next day, at about 7am, Janet went to Molly’s bedroom and found her daughter’s body, dead from "self-harm", as news sources describe.

Molly, 14, from Harrow, north-west London, had killed herself after falling, unbeknown to her family, into a vortex of despair on social media. Some of the content viewed in the final year of her life was unrecognisable from normal family TV.

Of 16,300 pieces of content saved, liked or shared by Molly on Instagram in the six months before she died, 2,100 were related to suicide, self-harm and depression.

In total, Molly watched 138 videos that contained suicide and self-harm content, sometimes “bingeing” on them in batches including one session on 11 November.

Throughout the hearing the senior coroner, Andrew Walker, raised potential changes to how social media platforms operate with regard to child users. Change has already arrived with the age-appropriate design code, which prevents websites and apps from misusing children’s data, while the forthcoming online safety bill will impose a duty of care on tech firms to protect children from harmful content.

Prince William met with Molly's parents in 2019

It is unusual for Royal Family members to comment following any legal proceedings, but the Prince of Wales has campaigned regularly on the subject of mental health.

Prince William has spoken openly in recent years about his own mental health and has campaigned for people to open up if they are struggling.

He created Heads Together, launched to help combat the stigma of mental health, in 2016 with his wife and Prince Harry.

In a statement following Friday's inquest into Molly Russell's death, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) chief executive Sir Peter Wanless said: "This should send shockwaves through Silicon Valley - tech companies must expect to be held to account when they put the safety of children second to commercial decisions.

"The magnitude of this moment for children everywhere cannot be understated."

There is substantial evidence that the Internet and social media can influence suicide-related behavior. Such evidence includes an increase of exposure to graphic content as well as the opportunity for cyberbullying to occur. Over the past ten years, cyberbullying has increasingly led to self-harm and suicide.