Facebook links up with Samaritans on suicidal friends alert

23:54 Facebook links up with Samaritans on suicidal friends alert 0 Comments

Facebook links up with Samaritans on suicidal friends alert "A facility allowing members of Facebook to sound the alert about friends they believe may be suicidal has been launched as part of a collaboration between the social networking site and the Samaritans.

The launch follows a number of reported cases in which Facebook users posted messages before attempting suicide, and the death over Christmas of Simone Back, who told 1,048 Facebook friends that she had taken an overdose. No one raised the alarm until the following day.

Via Facebook's help page, its 30 million UK users can now submit reports of potentially suicidal content to the website by clicking on a link that allows them to record the name and other details relating to the person they are concerned about.

Facebook will immediately alert the police if the person is judged to be at imminent risk and pass on all alerts to the Samaritans, a spokesman for the charity said."

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