Facebook Responds to Livestreamed Suicide Attempts

ATLANTA (AP) — The alarming video of a Georgia teenager livestreaming her own suicide attempt stayed up long enough on Facebook Live for sheriff's deputies to find and save her — a repeat phenomenon that has prompted mental health experts and Facebook's CEO to further investigate how they can use social media as a possible platform to help save lives. The 15-year-old girl took pills and put a plastic bag over her head during her suicide attempt May 2, officials from the Bibb County Sheriff's Office said. A sheriff's sergeant found the girl unresponsive - but with a pulse - and she's expected to recover. In April, Facebook was alerted to another possible suicide and made the decision to keep the video up, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call last week. That allowed law enforcement "to use that live video to communicate with that person and help save their life," he said. "So a lot of what we're trying to do is not just about taking the content down but also about helping people when they're in need on the platform." In Georgia, a viewer watching the teen's livestream called 911. Only the teen's friends could view the video because of the girl's privacy settings, but Bibb County sheriff's Sgt. Linda Howard had a nephew who was friends with her on Facebook. She immediately called her nephew, who viewed the video and let his aunt know it wasn't a prank. "It was very serious and we needed to get to it right away," she said. Deput...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Patient Care News Source Type: news