HIGHLIGHTS
- Facebook’s suicide prevention tools are available in India as well.
- It has expanded the resources offered to potential victims.
- Users can reach out directly or alert Facebook to serious posts.
Facebook has rolled out its suicide prevention tools globally, including in India. The tools were made available in the US last year in partnership with Forefront, Lifeline, and Save.org. In India, the tools have been rolled out in collaboration with AASRA and Deepika Padukone’s The Live Love Laugh Foundation.
The social network said the suicide prevention tools are being rolled out in all languages that Facebook is available in, and in India, this includes Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
The global rollout was announced in a Facebook Safety post on Tuesday, penned by Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Global Head of Safety, and Jennifer Guadagno, Researcher. “Today we’re updating the resources we offer to people around the world who may be experiencing self-injury or suicidal thoughts, as well as the support we offer to their concerned friends and family members,” it reads.
The post adds that the Facebook suicide prevention tools will enable users to take action themselves or report posts to Facebook that they believe might indicate suicidal behaviour. Users can either reach out to people they are concerned about directly, or report the post to Facebook, which has review teams working around the clock. The “most serious reports like self-injury” are prioritised.
The company noted that if the users themselves, or someone they know, is in crisis, then they should notify local emergency services immediately. The company lists all its resources on the Suicide Prevention page, and apart from the suicide prevention hotlines from AASRA and The Live Love Laugh Foundation, also lists resources across the globe. You can also reach the page by searching for ‘suicide’ on Facebook – it will show up as Facebook Help: Suicide.
Facebook also announced that the suicide prevention tools it deploys to the potential victims have been expanded, saying, “the resources we send to the person who posted something concerning will include an expanded set of options. People can now choose to reach out to a friend, contact a helpline, or see tips.” These can all be found on the same page.
Source: gadgets.ndtv.com
