Molly Russell: Family frustrated by Meta's inquest evidence delay

Molly saw thousands of harmful images on social media

The family of a teenager has expressed "frustration and disappointment" at delays by Meta in providing evidence to the inquest into her death.

Molly Russell, 14, killed herself in 2017 after seeing graphic images of self-harm and suicide on Instagram.

At a pre-inquest review, lawyers for Molly's family said material "could and should" have been given two years ago.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, told the court that the family's criticism "is not accepted" by the company.

Meta provided 12,000 pieces of content, some of which the family had not seen before, that Molly viewed before her death.

As a result of the new disclosure, the inquest into Molly's death which was due to start next month has been delayed until September at the earliest.

'Utterly shameful'

Speaking about the delay, Molly's father Ian Russell said it was a "significant blow to our family".

He explained that the family have been "seeking full details of Molly's engagements and activity on Instagram for many years" and criticised Meta for "only providing it now".

He added: "For a global company worth billions to make a bereaved family wait even longer to get answers regarding the circumstances of their child's death is utterly shameful."

The teenager lived in Harrow, north-west London

The new material amounts to 36,000 pages of evidence.

A barrister for Meta said the tech giant had "genuinely tried to be constructive" and had "engaged at speed" with requests from the coroner.

Coroner Andrew Walker had previously said he was troubled by the delays in providing evidence.

In the last six months of her life, Molly used her Instagram account more than 120 times a day.

She also liked more than 11,000 pieces of content and shared material more than 3,000 times, including more than 1,500 videos.