Dark humour. Unrealistic beauty standards. The romanticisation of mental illness. Pro-self-harm communities. Unreasonable thinspiration. These are just some of the ways social media is contributing to the rise in self-harm, particularly among young people. According to a March 2023 study from Oxford University, self-harm content on social media significantly normalises self-harm behaviour and increases the urge to self-harm, especially among adolescents and young women.

For months, children’s advocates and lawmakers have been piling pressure on social media companies, who they believe aren’t doing enough to protect minor users from such harmful content.  As explored in our editorial on The Complexity of Enforcing Crime Regulations on Social Media, this is a nuanced issue that spans multiple areas concerning ethical concerns and the core values of these platforms.

However, Meta, Snap, and TikTok have taken a major step in addressing this issue by launching a new initiative, Thrive, aimed at curbing content that encourages self-harm and suicide on their platforms.

In collaboration with the Mental Health Coalition — a charitable organisation focused on removing the stigma around mental health discussions —Thrive’s initial goal is to prevent the spread of graphic imagery by alerting media platforms to violating content. Meta provides the technical infrastructure for this initiative, utilising the same cross-platform signal-sharing technology used in their Lantern program that’s designed to combat online child abuse.

While there are concerns that this initiative might suppress harmless discussions about mental health, Meta assures that Thrive is designed to “remove harmful content that features graphic imagery or promotes suicide or self-harm, while still allowing space for people to share their personal experiences.”

Additionally, Thrive offers support by connecting users searching for content related to suicide or self-harm with local organisations around the world.

In 2024 alone, Meta has taken action against 6.6 million pieces of suicide and self-harm content. In the last quarter, around 25,000 of those posts were restored, primarily due to user appeals, according to their data.

Meta, along with Thrive’s founding partners Snap and TikTok, is encouraging other social media platforms to join this critical initiative.