Jack Dorsey Responds To Serial Killer Who Found His Victims Through Suicidal Twitter Posts (nhk.or.jp)

AmiMoJo shares a report from NHK WORLD: Twitter's CEO is reacting to a grisly case in Japan where a suspected serial killer allegedly found his victims through their suicidal posts on the social media platform. In an interview with NHK, Jack Dorsey said it is unrealistic and impossible to remove suicidal tweets. But he said he hoped Twitter could become a tool for prevention. Last month, the dismembered bodies of 9 people were found in 27-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi's apartment near Tokyo. Police say he admitted to the killings. They believe he preyed on people who posted about wanting to kill themselves on Twitter. Recently, Twitter updated its rules regarding posts about self-harm: "You may not promote or encourage suicide or self-harm. When we receive reports that a person is threatening suicide or self-harm, we may take a number of steps to assist them, such as reaching out to that person and providing resources such as contact information for our mental health partners."

Comments

Nobody cares

[rsilvergun]

Until you've got a gun in your hand. Try getting help if you're or your loved one isn't actively trying to commit suicide. Bottom line mental health care is expensive and nobody wants to pay for it. Especially when it's so easy to tell somebody to get over it, it's all in your head.

The Changing World

[LeftCoastThinker]

Mental health care and mental illness has always been problematic, and while in the past it was primarily the responsibility of friends and family to take action if there was a concern, with our increasingly connected society, there is increased responsibility to escalate posts of concern to the proper authorities/mental health professionals. The problem with Facebook, Google and the other internet monopolies is that they want this massive marketshare, but then are demonstrably incapable of handling the responsibilities that come with it.

Re:The Changing World

[Anonymous Coward]

And who says responsibility comes with it? Why is it their job suddenly because they make a generic way to talk to others? When phone networks went up was it suddenly Bell's job to listen in and report anyone talking about killing themselves?