• by Colin Kirkland , September 13, 2024

For Suicide Prevention Month, Meta, TikTok and Snap have partnered with the nonprofit Mental Health Coalition (MHC) to launch Thrive, a signal-sharing program inviting participating companies to share signals about graphic content depicting self-harm or suicide.

The program is designed to aid in the removal of potential harmful content to curb the exposure of at-risk social-media users.

Thrive will allow companies to send hashes -- numerical codes corresponding to the violating content -- so other companies can investigate and take action if the same or similar content is being shared on their platforms, Meta said in a blog post.

Each hash will provide information about the potentially harmful image or video while keeping any identifiable information about accounts or users private, according to Meta.

As a founding member of Thrive, Meta has provided the technical infrastructure powering the program, which is the same infrastructure the tech giant offered to the Tech Coalition's Lantern child-safety program last year, and allows information to be shared securely.

Meta says it has prioritized self-harm content due to “its propensity to spread across different platforms quickly.”

Overall, the program is built on the idea that collaboration – this time between three of the leading social media companies in the world – will improve response efforts to detect and remove the kind of harmful content that is designed to deceive and mislead vulnerable users.

Thrive is launching just a day after 42 attorneys general called for warning labels on social media platforms, including the three listed above, due to data showing social media use contributing to a growing mental health crisis, especially among younger users. Users who have reported heavy social media usage are at risk of becoming more depressed and view their physical appearance in a negative light than light users.

Moving forward, Dan Reidenberg, the director of Thrive and the National Council for Suicide Prevention, will oversee the operational aspects of the program, facilitating and monitoring ongoing activities.

Companies participating in Thrive have agreed to contribute to an annual report showcasing the effectiveness of the program.