Social media giants back Samaritans

Social media giants have pledged hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Samaritans charity in a bid to rid the internet of self-harm videos and other damaging material.

Representatives from Facebook, Google, Snapchat and Instagram were summoned by the UK government to meet with the charity to identify and tackle harmful content, including that promoting suicide.

The summit in Whitehall came three weeks after the government announced plans to make tech giants and social networks more accountable for harmful material online, with Instagram agreeing to ban graphic self-harm images.