ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Facebook hopes to stop suicides from being live streamed with new tools (FB)

After a string of horrific events streamed on its platform, Facebook will let viewers of a live video report the broadcaster as suicidal.

null

On January 22, a 14-year-old girl named Naika Venant used her phone to go live on Facebook. With the world watching, she then proceeded to hang herself with a scarf in the bathroom of her Miami foster home.

“That was a particularly tragic event," Vanessa Callison-Burch, a Facebook product manager who works on suicide prevention tools, said during a recent interview. "And it touched people on our team very deeply."

Starting Wednesday, Facebook will interrupt a potentially suicidal person during a live video with a message prompting them to chat with support partners like the Crisis Text Line, or seek additional help.

The company said that it's also starting to use artificial intelligence to report and take down content based on posts marked as suicidal in the past. Both updates come after a string of suicides and other deaths, like the shooting of Philando Castile, have been streamed on Facebook since its debut of live video in 2015.

ADVERTISEMENT

Similar suicide prevention resources were introduced for text posts on Facebook last summer, but this is the first time they've been added for videos.

In a recently published manifesto about the future of Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg touched on how his company planned to better identify and report abusive or harmful posts.

"Going forward, there are even more cases where our community should be able to identify risks related to mental health, disease or crime," he wrote.

After talking with mental health experts, Facebook realized that immediately cutting a video stream limited the ability for someone to receive support from their friends and loved ones, according to the company's head of suicide prevention research, Jennifer Guadagno.

"We know that the context really matters," she said. "And friends and family have that context."

ADVERTISEMENT

When someone who is broadcasting live is reported as suicidal, a member of Facebook's Community Operations team will also review the video to determine whether the authorities should be contacted or if the video should be taken down altogether.

It's not a full-proof system that leaves plenty of room for human error. But for now, the social network is trying to walk a fine line between policing everything that's shared and helping people who may be suicidal find the help they need.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng

Recommended articles

Here's everything to know about being a virgin on your wedding night

Here's everything to know about being a virgin on your wedding night

7 do's and don’ts of the Holy month of Ramadan

7 do's and don’ts of the Holy month of Ramadan

Top 5 sweetest celebrity mother-child relationships that stand out for us

Top 5 sweetest celebrity mother-child relationships that stand out for us

International Women's Day: 5 Nigerian female celebrities championing women’s rights

International Women's Day: 5 Nigerian female celebrities championing women’s rights

Top 5 female directors in Nollywood

Top 5 female directors in Nollywood

6 things that will break a Muslim's fast during Ramadan

6 things that will break a Muslim's fast during Ramadan

5 benefits of fasting during Ramadan

5 benefits of fasting during Ramadan

5 reasons Easter was more fun when we were children

5 reasons Easter was more fun when we were children

Dos and don’ts of supporting Muslims during Ramadan

Dos and don’ts of supporting Muslims during Ramadan

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT