A mother mourning the death of her 15-year-old “brave girl” who committed suicide has shared how her daughter felt “devastated” by the bullying she faced on social media, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.
For its second public hearing on Friday, the inquiry continued to explore the “influence and impacts of social media on Australian society” by inviting representatives from Meta, Snap Inc, TikTok Australia and Google to provide insights into the changing landscape.
The committee is working to learn how Meta’s decision to abandon agreements under the News Media Bargaining Code will affect Australian media.
The investigation focused on Matilda “Tilly” Rosewarne, who committed suicide after being bullied on social media, including Snapchat, in February 2022.
Tilly’s mother, Emma Mason, wrote in her submission to the inquest about the harm her “brave little girl” had suffered in the run-up to her death as a result of cyberbullying.
The inquest was told Tilly’s privacy had been breached after a student at her school circulated a photo of a body with its head cut out of the frame on Snapchat, claiming it was the teenager among his classmates.
“This was his twelfth attempt to take his own life. He was just 15 years old,” Mason wrote in his writing.
“I was exhausted, tired and broken.”
Tilly Rosewarne committed suicide in February 2022. She had been the victim of shocking cyberbullying.
Snap Inc’s public policy chief Henry Turnbull told the inquiry that Snapchat, operated by Snap Inc, worked hard to give users every opportunity to feel safe on its platform.
Mr Turnbull encouraged users to block and report accounts they felt were harmful to others.
“I think there’s a misconception on platforms like Snapchat that if you report someone, they’re going to know,” she said.
‘That is not true. In 10 minutes we respond to reports.”
Snapchat has launched new resources for people experiencing bullying with Australian-specific content like Reach Out.
Tilly’s mother shared her story with the parliamentary inquiry investigating the impact of social media.
Liberal MP Andrew Wallace, who shared Tilly’s story with the inquiry on Friday, said the teenager’s death was “a parent’s worst nightmare”.
Wallace said her story was “just one of hundreds of stories” she heard from the community about the correlation between social media and teens who committed suicide.
Turnbull said Snapchat was always working to continue improving its systems to ensure people feel safe online.
“This work is never done; unfortunately, bullying is something that happens in the real world and online,” she said.
‘We work hard to address it and I recognize how damaging it can be and how devastating it can be for the people affected.
Tilly (pictured) was found dead by her father near her old cottage at the family home in Bathurst, central west New South Wales, on the morning of 16 February 2022.
“From our perspective, it’s about focusing on the actions we’re taking to address these risks.”
Meanwhile, Google’s head of government affairs and public policy for Australia and New Zealand, Lucinda Longcroft, said the platform also maintained the security of its users at the highest level.
“We are open to exploring any avenue to ensure the safety of Australian users,” he said.
We never feel that we are doing enough to exercise our responsibility.
‘We constantly work for the safety of children, as they are the most vulnerable among our users, but the safety of all our users is of utmost concern and our responsibility.
‘We invest time, resources and people’s expertise to ensure that our systems and our services or products are safe in the area of mental health and suicide.’
Tilly’s story was told at a parliamentary inquiry into the impacts of social media.
Meta’s vice president and global head of safety, Antigone Davis, told the committee she did not believe social media had harmed children.
“I think social media has provided enormous benefits,” Davis said.
‘I believe that mental health issues in teenagers are complex and multifactorial. I believe it is our responsibility as a company to ensure that teenagers can reap the benefits of social media in a safe and positive environment.’
Mr. Wallace told Ms. Davis: “You can’t be serious.”
“You can’t be taken seriously, Mrs. Davis, when you say that,” he said.
Davis said Meta was “committed to trying to provide a safe and positive experience” for all users, especially teens.
“For example, if a teen is struggling with an eating disorder and they’re on our platform, we want to try to put safeguards in place to ensure that they’re having a positive experience and that we’re not contributing to or exacerbating that situation that they may be facing,” she said.
Senator Sarah Henderson told the inquiry that she had recently seen a video on an Instagram live stream showing “the most horrendous assault on a school student by another student.”
Senator Henderson asked Meta what kind of “mechanisms” were in place to prevent these videos from being broadcast live.
“Because the bottom line is that this is not being stopped and there are multiple cases showing that this type of online behavior has not been stopped,” he said.
Ms. Davis said Meta took videos like the one seen by Senator Henderson “very seriously.”
“We have policies against that type of content,” he said.
‘We build classifiers to try to identify that content, proactively.’
The committee is expected to submit its interim report on August 15, and its final report on November 18.
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