Pinterest’s billionaire founder refuses to apologise for Molly Russell’s death
THE billionaire founder of Pinterest has refused to apologise over teenager Molly Russell’s death.
Father-of-two Ben Silbermann, 40, would only say “no comment” at his £3.5million home in San Francisco, California.
Hours earlier on Friday, a London coroner found Molly, 14, died from an act of self-harm while suffering depression and the negative effects of online content.
Molly’s dad Ian, from Harrow, North West London, accused social media firms including Pinterest of “monetising misery”.
Prince William said kids’ online safety should be a “prerequisite, not an afterthought”.
But when we asked Silbermann if he believed the social media platform is dangerous for kids, he replied: “I don’t have any comment.”
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The inquest heard Molly was sent automated Pinterest emails recommending suicidal content.
Quotes included: “I wish I was dead” and “Put flowers on my grave so for once I might look beautiful”.
Senior Pinterest executive Jud Hoffman admitted the platform was “not safe” in 2017, when Molly died.
Pinterest has since introduced measures to limit access to such material.
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Many posts have been deleted and searching for terms like “suicidal” now brings up a message offering support through the Samaritans.
But Instagram, owned by Meta, still allows access to most of the content that Molly would have been able to see.
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Mr Russell added: “We hope that other social media companies follow the example of Pinterest, who have taken steps to learn lessons.”
Silbermann, whose wealth is estimated at £1.2billion, co-founded Pinterest with Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra in 2009.
