Instagram has told the BBC that it will remove all gaphic images of self-harm from the platform. In an interview with the BBC, head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said: “Historically, we have allowed content related to self-harm thats admission because people sometimes need to tell their story – but we havent allowed anything that promoted self-harm. But, moving forward, were going to change our policy to not allow any graphic images of self-harm.”

The pledge came after Ian Russell, the father of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life in 2017, said Instagram had “helped kill” his daughter. Molly’s family discovered after her death that she had been viewing graphic images of self-harm on the site prior to her death.

Ian Russell welcomed the move and encourage other social networks to follow suit, saying: “It is now time for other social media platforms to take action to recognise the responsibility they too have to their users if the internet is to become a safe place for young and vulnerable people.”