WUNRN
ITALY - GIRL AGE 14 SUICIDE OVER
FACEBOOK BULLYING - ITALIAN PROSECUTOR MAY INVESTIGATE FACEBOOK
Italian
prosecutor has launched an investigation into how Facebook allowed the
publication of insults and bullying posts aimed at a teenager, who later leapt
to her death from her third floor bedroom window.
Before taking her life,
16
May 2013 - Carolina Picchio, 14, from
The group, aged between 15 and 17, were said to be friends of Miss
Picchio’s ex-boyfriend. He had allegedly insulted her on Facebook when she left
him days earlier, although he claims to have later apologised.
“Isn’t what you have done to me enough? You have made me pay too many
times,” Miss Picchio wrote in a note to the boy which was found in her room by
investigators.
Before taking her life, she wrote on Facebook: “Forgive me if I am not
strong. I cannot take it any longer.”
The Italian Parent’s Association has already filed a criminal complaint in
“This is the first time a parent’s
group has filed such a complaint against Facebook in
Francesco Saluzzo, the
Mr Saluzzo told The Daily Telegraph he was probing how the videos had
stayed online “for days”, even after Miss Picchio’s friends requested their
removal.
“There is a procedure for asking for the removal of messages that break
rules,” he said. “This is an open investigation without named suspects, as yet.
Facebook itself is not under investigation. But we could theoretically
investigate employees of Facebook who failed to respond to these requests.”
Mr Affinita, of the parents’ association, said Miss Picchio’s death was
“the last straw” after a 15 year old school boy in
Facebook offers “report” links on its pages to allow the highlighting of
offensive content, and in 2011 launched a “Stop Bullying, Speak Up” application
to raise awareness of the problem.
In Novara, a social media backlash against Miss Picchio’s torment quickly
emerged, with one online commentator, thought to be a schoolfriend of Miss
Picchio, condemning the boys who videoed her. She said: “Tomorrow I have to go
back to school and see those idiots. I can’t do it.”
Eight boys, aged 15 to 17, are now being questioned by magistrates,
including Miss Picchio’s former boyfriend, who has reportedly claimed he was
not at the party where she was filmed. In an interview with
Italian magistrates already have a record of challenging social media
providers who host offensive content.
Three Google executives were given six month suspended sentences in 2010
for allowing the posting on Google Video a film in
The case was then overturned on appeal last December, but a magistrate is
now appealing the acquittal before