Facebook (© Timur Emek/AP Photo)

Woman posts on Facebook while committing suicide

3/28/2012

For 67 minutes a group of Claire Lin's Facebook friends read the Taiwanese woman's posts detailing her efforts to commit suicide by suffocating herself. Although some of them attempted to track her down on their own, no one alerted authorities or clicked Facebook's "Report Suicidal Content" button, which is forwarded to the Facebook Safety Team. Lin's final update read, in part, "Too late. My room is filled with fumes."

 

Sociologist Chai Ben-rei said Lin's friends' reactions -- or inactions -- could have been because "People may have doubts about what they see on the internet because of its virtual nature." Facebook released a statement expressing its condolences, while encouraging users to notify the company if a user threatens self-harm.

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