In the week before she died, Adriana Retyte, a 14-year-old pupil at Langley school in Norfolk, watched a number of videos and images about suicide on TikTok. Her devices recorded it. Last week, the Norfolk area coroner, Johanna Thompson, concluded that this access "may have played a significant part" in her decision to end her life. The coroner was careful to add that there is "no way of knowing" exactly why Adriana acted as she did.

That caution matters, and so does the pattern. Adriana's death came nine years after another 14-year-old, Molly Russell, died after being served suicide and self-harm material on platforms including Instagram. The Molly Rose Foundation, the charity set up in Molly's name, called the new case "devastating". Its message is uncomfortable: despite years of public anger, new laws and company promises, the same mechanism may still be operating.

That mechanism is the recommendation algorithm. A child does not need to search for harmful material; a feed that learns from a few seconds of attention can begin to supply more of it. TikTok says it enforces strict rules against content promoting self-harm and uses advanced technology to remove violations. It is understood the company had not yet investigated what happened on Adriana's account.