Police trace mass-suicide group on Facebook as more emerge

Police trace mass-suicide group on Facebook as more emerge-Clifford Lo and Martin Wong (South China Morning Post-27/22/1009)

Police have tracked down the internet user who started a mass-suicide group on the social networking site Facebook, while a similar online group with about 100 participants surfaced two days ago.

An investigating officer said the force had identified the creator of the first Facebook suicide group, named “I want to practice suicide” in Chinese, set up this year. It called on its nearly 190 members to kill themselves on December 21.

The case came to light after one of its members, a 15-year-old schoolboy, had attempted suicide a little more than two weeks ago. The group was shut down on Wednesday after extensive media reports.

The officer refused to reveal how the creator had been traced, but said the person “is a local teenager and did it for fun. Investigation shows that those who joined the group are also youngsters”.

No arrests had been made.

Another officer said the first group had been attracting more people to join since April, and that one of its members had posted a mobile phone number asking others with the intention of committing suicide to call.

Even as the old group was removed, another emerged on Wednesday night-also registered in Chinese characters-and named “I have to (practice) suicide”. Ninety-seven people had signed up.

In its description, it said: “What is the meaning of life…my beloved is in love with another…while everything adults do is right, what we do is all wrong…no one knows me exist, why don’t we all commit suicide.”

Officers said they were trying to identify the creator. They warned that posting such comments online could run foul of the law-anyone who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by another to commit suicide, faces up to 14 years in jail.

Meanwhile, officials from the Education Bureau, the Social Welfare Department and the police met yesterday to discuss the problem. “The main purpose of the meeting is to discuss how the related departments can co-operate and follow up [on this trend],” a government officer said.

Officers from the Commercial Crime Bureau’s technology division, assigned to the case, were tight-lipped on the developments.

A university lecturer who specialized in social sciences and mental health said it was hard to guess the motives of the creators or participants of such groups.

Stephen Sun Yu-kit, of City University’s School of Continuing and Professional Education, warned that the incident could spawn copycats.

“What concerns us and society is that some fragile people may be motivated to actually doing it,” he said.

“People may have the impression that their real identities won’t be revealed or disclosed as they talk freely in the cyber world. But …police can still trance their identities. We should also think of the consequences, the bad influence on others.”

Questions over regulations on establishing mass-suicide groups have been sent to Facebook administrators since Wednesday, but no answer had been received.


2. Summary

A mass-suicide group, named “I want to practice suicide” in Chinese, was set up on the social networking site Facebook. Police followed the case closely and around 100 people surfaced the group before the media reported it extensively. This group called upon about 190 members to commit suicide on December 21. One of its members is a 15 year-old boy who had attempted suicide a little more than two weeks ago. The investigating shows that the creator of this group is a local teenager and does it for fun. Most of the participators are teenagers too. And the educators said that it was difficult to guess the motives of the creators or participants of such groups.

3. Feedback

The trend of committing suicide among the young people concerns many citizens nowadays. The number of case about the teenagers to practice suicide is increasing very fast that it has been arisen the public attention. Even some teenagers would set up some groups to share their ideas about some ways to commit suicide again and again but it is not a good phenomenon. Most Hong Kong people are stressful, even the teenagers are under the pressure of their study, relationship between different people or a host of factors. The present generation always propagates that we need health, not only the physical health, but also the mental, emotional and psychological health. A balanced life is necessary. In fact, life is valuable. Giving up the life is not a smart method to deal with the difficulties. Therefore, I hope that all of the people can treasure their life and try to give a hand to the needy.