Email: Unsealed internal messages ("BBC News piece on self harm and suicide content on Instagram" — day-of press statement following Molly Russell story)

Raw text

Transcribed text as recorded, including headers and formatting fragments.

Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 3010-8 Filed 05/02/26 Page 1 of 4 EXHIBIT 14 Message From: Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 3010-8 Filed 05/02/26 [/O=THEFACEBOOK/OU=EXTERNAL (FYDIBOHF25SPDLT)/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN= Sent: 1/22/2019 9:34:35 PM To: Adam Mosseri @instagram.com] CC: @instagram.com]; Subject: Fwd: BBC News piece on self harm and suicide content on Instagram Attachments: image001.png Adam, see below. Copying Ali here in case you have thoughts or questions. From: @instagram.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 12:44 PM To: Cc: Jim Squires; Page 2 of 4 @instagram.com] Subject: BBC News piece on self harm and suicide content on Instagram Hi all, I wanted to update you on a story that is running tonight and tomorrow on BBC 1 6pm and 10pm News discussing content related to suicide, self-injury and eating disorders on Instagram. The BBC has also published this piece online and it has been covered across BBC Radio stations. We expect it to travel more broadly here in the UK and have already had one enquiry from the Daily Mail. Given the content and topic it may also travel more broadly. The piece tonight featured an interview with a father who shared the tragic story of his daughter Molly Russell who took her own life. He talks about distressing posts she had liked on Instagram, and definitively states that he is in "no doubt that Instagram has helped kill my daughter". It also contained a short interview with the UK minister for suicide prevention, Jackie Doyle-Price, showing her reaction to Molly's story and a short reference to social media companies needing to improve and not being afraid to look at regulation. She also published the first ever cross-government suicide prevention plan today, which will give this story more legs. Today we learned of an additional element to the story, which will air tomorrow night and focus on advertising appearing next to content related to suicide, self-injury and eating disorders. As part of the investigation, the reporter set up an Instagram account following only accounts posting content related to these topics and then took screen recordings of ads being served alongside the organic content he was following. We know of at least four advertisers who have been contacted by the BBC due to featuring in this feed. Below is the statement and background we have shared - and our sharing as new press enquiries come in. Steve Hatch has sent a communication to UK clients and internal sales teams and we are working to ensure wider teams are aware should this travel. A Sales FYI post will go live shortly. We have also briefed leadership at Davos so they are aware should any questions come up. Please do let me know if you have any questions at all. I will send an update after the second piece has aired tomorrow evening. CONFIDENTIAL META3047MDL-014-00310568 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 3010-8 Filed 05/02/26 Page 3 of 4 Best, Statement: "Our thoughts go out to Molly's family and anyone dealing with the issues raised in this report. We do not allow content that promotes or glorifies eating disorders, self-harm or suicide and work hard to remove it. However, for many young people, discussing their mental health journey or connecting with others who have battled similar issues, is an important part of their recovery. This is why we don't remove certain content and instead offer people looking at, or posting it, support when they might need it most. Advertisements on Instagram are not targeted to appear next to certain videos or content. Ads people see are based on interests, not the content you see above and below those ads." Background Our approach to accounts and content Content that promotes or glorifies eating disorders, self-harm or suicide violates our Community Guidelines, and is removed when we made aware of it - either through in-app reports from the Instagram community or through the technologies we have built to help us detect it. We encourage anyone who comes across content that they believe to be in violation of our Community Guidelines to report it using our in-app tools. We prioritise reports related to self-harm or suicide and have teams working 24/7 to review these reports. Because self-harm is a complicated and nuanced issue, especially for those that are suffering, we have worked with experts to ensure that our approach reflects that complexity and nuance. This is why we allow content that consists of self-harm or eating disorder admission. Rather than being removed, we place associated accounts into 'self-harm checkpoints' which means that we send support resources to the account holder, prompting them with "how can we help" messaging, and signposting to the Samaritans. We work with the Samaritans and PAPYRUS in the UK to produce in-app content and advice for people on our Help Centre, including how to report content, get support for a friend they are worried about or directly contact an expert to ask for advice. Our approach to hashtags If a hashtag is consistently used to share violating content or the hashtag itself inherently promotes suicide, self- injury or eating disorders we will block it, which means it is no longer searchable or recommendable and cannot be used on future posts. However, hashtags can be important for people seeking support and, in many cases, can help us identify and support those at risk through tools and partnerships with experts. As such, hashtags containing content relating to self-harm and eating disorders that do not violate our Community Guidelines are added to a sensitive hashtag list, and people looking at the content will see a message that gives them the option to connect with a helpline, reach out to a friend, and access tips and support. The sensitive hashtag list is updated daily. Once a hashtag is added to this list, it cannot be recommended in-app [via explore or in feed] and it will not appear on a related hashtags list. People looking at content on these hashtags will also not receive recommendations to view other hashtags. We have also developed a hashtag auto-enrollment tool, which uses machine learning to automatically identify hashtags that are being used to share self-injury and suicide content, and either remove them or add them to the sensitive hashtag list. That technology learns over time to recognize variations of a hashtag once it is banned to allow us to take the appropriate action. Support in the Community Every day, we see people from all over the world use Instagram as a place to share their mental health journey and get support from the community. From dedicated accounts around an issue to unique hashtags adopted by awareness-raising groups, communities are helping to make mental illnesses that are often invisible to friends and family visible through photos and videos. For example: CONFIDENTIAL META3047MDL-014-00310569 Case 4:22-md-03047-YGR Document 3010-8 Filed 05/02/26 Page 4 of 4 After his brother-in-law, Andy committed suicide, Luke Ambler (@lukeambleruk) founded Andy's Man Club (@ANDYSMANCLUBUK), a group is focused on removing the stigma for men to talk about mental health with the aim of halving the rate of male suicide by 2021. Kay Ska (@kay ska) posts about her mental health journey and has built a strong community of support online. She uses Instagram to document her 'healing journey' from an eating disorder, and empowers people to share their own stories. Ashleigh Ponder (@balancednotclean) Ashleigh used Instagram to post pictures of her healthy, balanced meals as part of her recovery from an eating disorder and her followers became a vital support network during this time. Connie Inglis (@my life without ana) uses Instagram as a tool to help in her recovery from anorexia and spread body positivity. We also see many examples of people using Instagram for positivity campaigns: There are over 8.2 million posts on Instagram using the tag #bodypositive and people like Megan Crabbe (@bodyposipanda) use Instagram to post body positive images as part of their recovery from eating disorders, as well as encouraging others to love their natural shape. Using the hashtags #skinpositivity and #acneisnormal, teenagers are encouraging others to embrace their skin imperfections and empowering them with the confidence to do so. Advertising/Brand Safety Similar to Facebook news feed, advertisements on Instagram are not targeted to appear next to certain videos or content: Ο Ads appear in people's Feed and everybody's Feed is different. Ads people see are based on interests, not the content you see above and below those ads. It's not in our interests to allow bad content to run - our business is advertising, and if people aren't happy about the content, advertisers won't be, either. That is why we invest heavily in more people and better technology to create a safe place for everyone. Across, the Facebook Family of Apps and Services, there are Placement Controls, where advertisers can opt out of placements they do not feel comfortable advertising in, including Instagram. For certain products and placements, within the Facebook Family of Apps, we offer controls for anyone wanting to advertise on our services. Even when content adheres to our policies, some advertisers want more oversight into where their ads are running. Specificallyfor Audience Network, Instant Articles and In-stream where ads appear within publisher/creator content, we give advertisers access to: mobile: + mail: Ο Ο Category controls to opt out of placements and certain types of content (like tragedy or conflict-related content) where ads appear - across Facebook in-stream videos, Instant Articles, and Audience Network Comprehensive publisher lists and delivery reports, to better control where their ads can appear, plus the ability to block any publisher. Only publishers that comply with our Monetization Eligibility Standards can use our ad tools to monetize videos and articles that are shared on Facebook. Choice of video placements in Audience Network to specify the types of placements (e.g. in-stream, interstitial) they want their video campaigns to run in via a simple opt-out format. Brand safety management partners like Double Verify and Integral Ad Science. | Head of Communications, UK @instagram.com CONFIDENTIAL META3047MDL-014-00310570