Facebook to follow Instagram in self-harm images ban
FACEBOOK has vowed to ban graphic images of self-harm as social media companies finally step up their efforts to clamp down on gory content influencing children.
In a blog post shared on Thursday, around the same time as Instagram’s announcement that it will ban all such images from its platform. Facebook’s global head of safety Antigone Davis said the social network had consulted a number of experts in suicide prevention to determine how best to deal with troubled young users.
She said that while graphic images of selfharm would be banned, Facebook users would still be allowed to ‘share admissions’ of self-harm and suicidal thoughts so they can be connected with those who can help.
As the Irish Daily Mail reported yesterday, Instagram has agreed to ban all content, such as self-cutting videos, that were previously allowed.
It marked a major victory for the family of 14-year-old British schoolgirl Molly Russell, who is thought to have taken her own life after viewing images and videos on Instagram that were said to glamorise suicide.
Her father Ian Russell had said Instagram ‘helped kill my daughter’. Facebook, which owns Instagram, will now also ban ‘graphic cutting images’, with the policy to be enforced ‘in the coming weeks.’ But a spokesman said it would not yet ban other types of content, such as healed cutting scars or certain sad memes as there was conflicting evidence as to their harm.
Ms Davis said experts from ten countries had helped inform the decision, adding: ‘First, these experts unanimously reaffirmed that Facebook should allow people to share admissions of self-harm and suicidal thoughts, but should not allow people to share content promoting it.
‘The experts also advised that some graphic images of self-harm, particularly cutting, can have the potential to unintentionally promote self-harm even when they are shared in the context of admission or a path to recovery. ‘As a result, based on their feedback, we will no longer allow graphic cutting images even in the context of admission.’ Twitter has yet to announce a similar ban on graphic images of self-harm, but a spokesman yesterday said it has a suicide prevention strategy on the app providing a link to professional help.
A spokesman for YouTube said the video site already bans graphic videos featuring self-harm. A spokeswoman for video-sharing site Snapchat said accounts which promote self-harm or self-injury are already prohibited.