A report released today reveals that there has been a huge increase in the number of posts that appear on Twitter Inc. relating to young people harming themselves.

The investigation, undertaken by the independent research organization the Network Contagion Research Institute, NCRI, said that since October last year there has been a 500% increase in hashtags on the platform related to self-harm. That’s despite such content going against Twitter’s standards.

Most of the posts, said the report, were made by adolescents in what seems to be a trend at the moment. Tens of thousands of posts were made by youngsters who talked about cutting themselves and other forms of self-harm. Many used the hashtag “#shtwt” and then detailed what they were going to do to themselves. The hashtag stands for self-harm Twitter.

“These terms are usually associated with and accompanied by photos of severe and even potentially life-threatening self-inflicted wounds,” said NCRI. “These images and the cutting behavior are praised, celebrated, and encouraged.” It added that such behavior is “rapidly growing,” and what was detailed in the report may just be the “tip of the iceberg.”

It’s no secret that social media has led to a dramatic increase in mental health problems among the young. Not only can it be a place to indulge in trends, but the constant pressure that such applications can have on young people is clearly taking its toll on mental health.

That’s one reason why Meta Platforms Inc. faced a tsunami of criticism when it announced it was going to release Instagram Kids. Earlier, internal documents that were released showed that Meta was aware of the negative impact its apps were having on young folks.

Twitter is aware that it has a problem with young people talking about self-harm, posting photos and videos of it, and giving strategies to others. “We are continuing to review our policies in conversation with external experts and research like this report to ensure we are striking a balance between giving a voice to people who are struggling, and removing content which exploits those struggles,” Twitter spokeswoman Lauren Alexander told The Washington Post.

One problem is that users posting such content are not always easy to detect, so their posts can be removed. They use certain coded language, such as “catscratch,” which doesn’t immediately draw attention. It means a light cut. “Beans” refers to a deeper cut, while blood can be “raspberry filling,” and “moots” can be two people doing self-harm to themselves together. At times people might even suggest that a person cut deeper than they already have.

On Aug. 18, one tweet said, “This is the deepest I’ve done someone be proud of me.” The text below used coded terms about the depth of the cut. It received 2,000 likes, 165 retweets and 80 comments.

“If children who self-harm (whether by cutting or by starving themselves) continue to find encouragement for increasing the severity of their injuries on Twitter rather than resources for getting help, Twitter will be an ongoing, potent accelerator for serious disorders,’ the report concluded. “Twitter’s inability to keep up with the evolution of coded language allows social contagions of self-harm to escape detection, metastasize, and persist on the platform.”

Photo: charcoal soul/Flickr