The person her daughter met on Instagram poisoned her, mother suing Meta tells A Haber: ‘They do not design platforms safely’

Julianna Arnold still remembers the last words her daughter said before leaving home. She asked 17-year-old Lucienne Colette Dilara Konar, whom she called “Coco,” when she would return. “This afternoon, Mom,” the girl replied. Arnold told her to take care of herself and said she loved her. Coco answered that she loved her too, then walked out the door. “At that moment, I didn’t know I was looking at my daughter for the last time.”

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Coco was a lively, adventurous and exceptionally intelligent young girl. The content she encountered on Instagram seriously affected her mental health. While struggling with depression and anxiety, she became withdrawn. Just as we were trying to help her, a man she met on Instagram manipulated her, acted like her friend, and persuaded her to meet by saying he would give her prescription medication for her anxiety. The substance he gave her was not prescription medication. It was fentanyl.

Arnold says Coco had met a man on Instagram who presented himself as a friend and offered prescription medication for her anxiety. According to Arnold, the substance was not prescription medicine but fentanyl. Coco never came home after leaving with her closest friend.

Arnold described her daughter as lively, adventurous and exceptionally intelligent. She said the content Coco encountered on Instagram seriously affected her mental health, and that the teenager became withdrawn while struggling with depression and anxiety. The family was trying to help her when, Arnold says, the Instagram contact manipulated her into the meeting.

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You cannot monitor your children on social media every moment. These platforms are designed to keep children inside them as long as possible, rather than to protect them. Yet they still leave the responsibility for safety to parents. The real question is this: if children use these platforms, why are they not designed to be safe?

The mother argues that social media companies focus more on keeping users on their platforms than protecting children. “You cannot monitor your children on social media every moment,” she said. “These platforms are designed to keep children inside them as long as possible, rather than to protect them. Yet they still leave the responsibility for safety to parents.”

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This was how I could ease my pain. My anger and the thought that this could happen to other children gave me strength. I knew Coco would want me to keep fighting.

After Coco’s death, Arnold said she joined families campaigning for children’s safety online in 2023 and filed a lawsuit against Meta. “This was how I could ease my pain,” she said, adding that her anger and the thought that other children could face the same danger gave her strength. Arnold said the problem extends beyond the United States, including Turkey, and that companies should not place responsibility on parents.

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This problem is not limited to the United States. It happens everywhere, including Turkey. The problem is not bad children or parents, but platforms that do not protect children. It is wrong for companies to place responsibility on parents.