Bianca Devins, 17, of Utica, is pictured in a photo provided by the Williams-Devins family. Photos of her grisly murder were shared on Instagram. Bloody photos of Bianca Devins , 17, were posted on Instagram Sunday. The images quickly circulated and remained available on Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo and video sharing site, for nearly an entire day. Copies and imposter accounts also spread on Instagram as users promised to post more photos if they got enough followers. A spokesperson for Instagram told The Daily Mail on Monday that the photo has now been removed, along with all copies.
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How news of the murder spread
On July 14, , Brandon Andrew Clark murdered Bianca Michelle Devins after allegedly seeing her kiss another man, although police reports say the murder was premeditated. Following a botched suicide attempt, Clark was charged with second-degree murder. He subsequently pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Police reports stated that Clark and Devins were in an intimate relationship, although the two perceived the relationship differently, in particular as to whether it was exclusive. Devins' sister called him a close family friend, whereas others feared he was exploitative. A childhood friend noted him as "obsessive" and users on social media described him as a stalker and an incel. Devins' murder received considerable attention from the news and social media. Initial reports were marred by misinformation. Photos of her corpse were taken by Clark and shared widely online, sparking both mockery and sympathy.
The problem social media companies face
From ELLE. The next morning, she was found on the ground in her hometown of Utica with her throat slit. The alleged killer was her concert date, year-old Brandon Clark, who allegedly uploaded photos of her dead body online before stabbing himself in front of police. But even as her followers flagged the graphic pictures to the tech giant, new posts seemed to pop up right away. The viral images stirred widespread outrage about the inability of large social media companies to police the proliferation of violent, graphic images. We are taking every measure to remove this content from our platforms. Clark's Instagram page has since been taken down, but as of Tuesday night—several days after Devins's body was found—photos of her corpse could still be found in the tagged photos section of her Instagram page. MacMillan reportedly received a DM from Instagram saying the photos of Devins's dead body that she flagged on the social media app did not, in fact, violate its community guidelines. She also told the magazine that it worried her how easy it was to track down the images online.
A year-old girl with a small social media following in upstate New York was killed by a man she had met recently on Instagram, who then posted photos of her corpse online, police say. The gory pictures were redistributed widely, including by online posters who made light of or celebrated the teen's death. Others urged people to stop circulating the images, which had appeared in online chat sites including 4chan and Discord. On Monday, police identified the slain girl as Bianca Devins, of Utica, New York, and said her alleged assailant, Brandon Clark, was being held on a second-degree murder charge. Discord users who saw the photos on Sunday morning alerted police. Officers were trying to find the teen when the year-old Clark called to report what he had done, Utica's public safety department said.
