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?

Re:The Changing World

[Wrath0fb0b]

while in the past it was primarily the responsibility of friends and family to take action if there was a concern [about mental illness]

For the vast majority of people in the past, if you were crazy you lived as a vagrant or a beggar and died in pretty short order afterwards. Nobody gave a shit about your life even if you wanted to stay alive, let alone if you wanted to off yourself. If you came from a moderately wealthy family, you might get to live in a horrific asylum (and that was in the 19th century, not even talking about medieval times, which holy crap they'd probably assume you were possessed by a demon and flay you to save your soul) instead of dying of pneumonia on the streets.

I don't know what sugar coated history books they taught you, but the past is fucking bleak and miserable.

Bad idea

[countach]

Surely we wouldn't want to censor the cry for help that could save their life? This serial killer thing is a one off.

Re:Shut up Dorsey

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody cares about your sewer of the internet. Twitter is for the sub 100 IQ crowd. Eternal September took roost in Twitter and Facebook.

You managed that in under 140 chars ... join us!

Mental illness is not the problem

[whyyisthissohard]

Desperation and grief are not mental illnesses. They are sound and logical reactions to a hostile environment.

We have to stop pretending that everything in our westernized societies is okay and that the people who can't adapt are insane somehow. It's not these people that need treatment by and large, it's this society that needs treatment.

The few cases of people born with clear physical defects that lead to depression are not a significant fraction of people who commit suicide or want to.

Serial Killer or Suicide Service Provider?

[n329619]

Let's put Jack Dorsey on the side. For the japanese guy who did all this, should he even be considered a serial killer? The thing is, it looks like he is doing a service to those people like the right-to-die.

Although this is not a service that makes any sense ( Irony: a lot of Japanese stuff doesn't make any sense) within a moral and civil society where being alive is important, it still does question his initial action of 'is it wrong'. Think about those movies like an injured soldier wanted you to end his life with one last bullet or a sick love one suffering life long pain wishing to end it. It is a difficult moral choose we make as we debate the right and wrong of our choice. But if there's someone else doing it, is he wrong?

If it wasn't for the dismembering (wtf why did he do it), it maybe worth to conduct further investigation on what actually happened, to see whether or not he should be named a serial killer or in fact a suicide service provider.

Re:Serial Killer or Suicide Service Provider?

[Actually, I do RTFA]

There is a reason why even most people who support right to die assisted suicides support a rigorous process of confirming that it's a real, persistent desire. Many suicidal thoughts, and even attempts, are temporary (not that that should discourage people from seeking help if someone is thinking about, threatening or attempted suicide; many are not without help).

This person didn't do that. So, yeah, he's a serial killer.

Re:Serial Killer or Suicide Service Provider?

[DarkOx]

Except European countries are by and large moving forward with euthanasia both for people with other mental illness and children.

Essentially at least within American circles everything conservatives feared would follow from opening the door to assisted suicide is rapidly coming true. Just like here in the states where "safe legal and rare" has turned into "at any stage, for any reason, on demand, and on the tax payer dime" with regard to abortion. Next most of us in the center figured as far as all these 'transsexuals/transgenders' go, hey its free country if adults want to have their junk mocked up to look like that of the other sex whatever. Now prepubescent children are being encouraged to transition, and being given drugs and procedures that will have life long physical consequences if they change their minds, which many are being found to do.

You say this person did not make sure its a real persistent desire. I can tell you the "medical professionals" won't bother asking those question past maybe the first generation of "practitioners". They will quickly move toward utilitarian thinking. "This person is suffering and says they want to die...well gee that is the quickest way to end that suffering...so here swallow this" is how it will start to play out more and more. Nobody will really ask is this person mentally fit to make this choice, what other treatments haven't been tried that might help, etc. Our hospitals and sanitariums will simply turn into slaughter houses.