Germany · Google · France · AI Safety · United Kingdom · The Guardian Technology
Google pushes back on breaching law by promoting suicide forum linked to 164 UK deaths
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Google has denied breaching the Online Safety Act by promoting a “nihilistic” suicide forum associated with 164 deaths in the UK, where it is supposed to be banned.
Key facts
- In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org
- In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email
- Adele Zeynep Walton, whose sister Aimee Walton took her life after accessing the site, said: “Families like mine have been agonisingly waiting for action against the website that took their loved ones
- The UK’s internet regulator fined the forum’s US-based operator £950,000 because the site, which “presents a material risk of significant harm”, can still be accessed in the UK despite British laws
Summary
The UK’s internet regulator fined the forum’s US-based operator £950,000 because the site, which “presents a material risk of significant harm”, can still be accessed in the UK despite British laws criminalising encouraging or assisting suicide. However, a link to the website still appears in Google’s search results allowing users with basic software to circumvent the block and access screeds of advice on suicide methods. Google’s promotion of the site, not named by the Guardian, was raised by the Molly Rose Foundation, an online safety campaign. However, it includes the website’s address, which can then be used to access the full site using VPN software that simulates being a computer based in a different country.