Snapchat 'asleep at the wheel' when it comes to suicide and self-harm content, says children's charity
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The social media site Snapchat is "fundamentally failing to act on suicide and self-harm content", according to the Molly Rose Foundation. Just 2% of reported suicide and self-harm content on Snapchat was removed between January and July last year, according to Snapchat's latest transparency report.
There were 289 posts relating to suicide and self-harm that were proactively discovered and dealt with by the company. "For Snapchat to be identifying such a minuscule amount of content on their platform just illustrates they are absolutely asleep at the wheel when it comes to these risks," Andy Burrows, chief executive of the suicide prevention charity, said.
Snapchat is one of the world's biggest social platforms, with more than 850 million monthly active users, according to the company. With that many users, Mr Burrows said it was "inconceivable" that the social media platform would find so little self-harm content that violated its guidelines.
The Molly Rose Foundation was set up following the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life in 2017 after viewing posts related to suicide, depression and anxiety online. Since her death, the foundation has campaigned for better internet safety and regulations.
"The safety and well-being of our community is a top priority," a Snapchat spokesperson told Sky News. "Snapchat was designed to be different to other platforms, with no open newsfeed or live stream, and public content is moderated to help limit the virality of harmful content.
