Suicidal, masochistic acts swamp Instagram
Some of the Instagram posts show bruising and scarring from masochistic or suicidal acts using cutters. Korea Times file
By Ko Dong-hwan
The number of videos or photos of suicidal or masochistic acts being posted on social networks has soared, according to national police and the South Korean government.
The National Police Agency, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and its Korea Suicide Prevention Center said on Aug. 23 that during a special campaign from July 18-31, they received more than 17,000 reports of online posts containing suicidal or masochistic acts. The joint campaign called on people to report any malicious online content linked to the self-harming behaviors.
Leading the number of reports were more than 8,000 videos explicitly or implicitly showing suicidal acts. Next came more than 4,500 posts advising “how to kill yourself.” These were followed by more than 2,400 posts encouraging suicide, 1,400 seeking “a companion to die with,” and more than 800 looking to trade poisonous chemicals.
The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) has deleted more than 34 percent of the reported posts.
Instagram attracted the most life-threatening posts, followed by Twitter. Across these platforms, the number of posts carrying suicidal videos jumped 38 times from the previous year.
In July, police searched for a 30-something man who sought “a suicidal companion” on Twitter and revealed his contact number. Police talked to the man and found he did not intend killing himself but was just “hinting out he could do it,” according to Seoul Shimmun.
The prevention center's president Han Chang-soo said he was “mostly concerned about the viral photos on Instagram of people destroying their own bodies,” and would continue to work with the KCSC to stop such online content.
The ministry said it was seeking a constitutional revision that would legally ban posting suicidal-related online content.