Three children from Instagram chat group are taken to hospital

INSTAGRAM has been criticised for failing to remove a “suicide group” from the social network after three young members were found seriously ill.

Twelve girls in England aged between 12 and 16 were members of the private chat group that included the word “suicide” in its title.

Three were reported missing when they travelled to meet each other in London.

They were later found in a street needing urgent medical treatment and were taken to hospital.

Instagram said that the group, despite its name, contained no suicide or self-harm related content.

However, the social media giant has been criticised for failing to join the dots between its sinister title and the fate of some of its members.

Tim Loughton, the Conservative MP, told The Sunday Telegraph: “Yet again a social media platform is found to be all talk and no action when it comes to protecting impressionable young people and children from potentially harmful content online.

“It does not take a rocket scientist to raise the alarm when an Instagram group refers to itself as a suicide group and includes particularly vulnerable teenage girls. Yet even now the company has failed to take it down out of harm’s way.”

One of the three girls found in London mentioned that they had first met each other online and discussed suicide, according to a police briefing obtained by the BBC.

Seven of the 12 group members had self-harmed prior to being traced by the police. Facebook, which owns Instagram, admitted the group’s title included the word “suicide” but said the content of the messages did not break its rules.

In a statement, a company spokesman said: “We reviewed reports but found no content that broke our rules, nor in fact any suicide or self-harm related content.

“We don’t allow graphic content, or content that promotes or encourages suicide or self-harm, and will remove it when we find it.

“We’ll continue to support the police and will respond to any valid legal request for information.”

In November 2020, Instagram introduced new technology to recognise self-harm and suicide content on its app. Fears about the impact of this content on young and vulnerable people were heightened when 14-year-old schoolgirl Molly Russell killed herself in 2017 after seeing graphic images on the platform.

‘Yet again a social media platform is found to be all talk and no action when it comes to protecting young’