Facebook rolls out updated suicide prevention tools for all users

New York, June 15 (IANS) In a bid to curb self-injury and suicide episodes globally, social networking giant Facebook has updated its suicide prevention tools which are now available to all 1.65 billion monthly active users including in India.

Developed in collaboration with mental health organisations and with inputs from people who have personal experience with self-injury and suicide, these tools were first launched in the US with the help of organisations like Forefront, Lifeline and Save.org.

“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,” posted Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety and Jennifer Guadagno, Researcher at Facebook, on Tuesday.

“We are rolling them out around the world in collaboration with local partners and in all languages Facebook is available in,” they added.

With the help of these new tools, if someone posts something on Facebook that makes you concerned about their well being, you can reach out to them directly and you can also report the post to Facebook.

In a latest incident in Gurgaon, Haryana in India, a 32-year-old man was saved by his friends and the police after he posted pictures of a suicide bid on Facebook.

Varun Malik, who works in a multinational company, tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrist and uploaded the pictures of a bleeding hand on the social networking site Facebook.

His friends who saw the post came to his rescue and informed the police immediately. Malik was rushed to a private hospital where doctors said his condition was stable.

“We have teams working around the world, 24/7, who review reports that come in. They prioritize the most serious reports like self-injury,” the Facebook duo posted.

“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,” they announced.