News Bits: Teenager Commits Suicide Live on Web

Written by Erin Barker

Friday, November 21. 2008 at 11:20 AM EST Post a comment

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Web video has shown its darkest side. Nineteen-year-old Abraham K. Biggs committed suicide Wednesday in Broward County, Fla. -- live on Justin.tv.

Biggs overdosed on pills after being egged on by commentators on Justin.tv, who reportedly didn't take him seriously since he had posted suicide threats before. At least some viewers did take it seriously and contacted authorities, who were seen breaking down the door at the end of the video.

This follows several Internet-related suicides in the past several years -- a 42-year-old British man was goaded to commit suicide in a Paltalk chatroom in March 2007, and a 13-year-old girl committed suicide in October 2006 after being mocked on MySpace -- and prompts questions about how video sites should prevent and react to tragedies like this.

Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel offered this slightly underwhelming statement to CNET:

We regret that this has occurred and respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this time. We have policies in place to discourage the distribution of distressing content and our community monitors the site accordingly. This content was flagged by our community, reviewed, and removed according to our Terms of Service.

Though Justin.tv has removed the video, NewTeeVee claims that it, along with related content such as a suicide note, is still online elsewhere.

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