The video-sharing application TikTok, which is very popular with teenagers, has alerted parents and users about images of a suicide that have been embedded in videos.
The video, which has been circulating on the platform for several days, originated on a Facebook Livestream and has since been shared on Twitter and Instagram. The video is also being hidden in other unrelated videos, according to reports.
"Our systems have been automatically detecting and flagging these clips for violating our policies against content that displays, praises, glorifies, or promotes suicide," a representative for TikTok told the BBC.
"We appreciate our community members who've reported content and warned others against watching, engaging or sharing such videos on any platform, out of respect for the person and their family."
The short video app TikTok is very popular with children and teenagers and offers its users videos from a wide variety of sources they do not subscribe to.
"We are deleting content and excluding accounts that repeatedly try to download the clips, and we are grateful to those members of our community who have reported such content and have advised others not to view, engage in or share these videos on any platform, out of respect for the individual and their loved ones," TikTok said.
Keep Young Children Off The Site
Kirra Pendergast, CEO of cyber safety consulting firm Safe on Social, advises parents to prevent young children from accessing the site in the coming days, until all relevant clips have been identified and deleted.
"This content is fairly widely shared, so we want to minimize the damage as high as possible," she wrote on Facebook. She said the video was uploaded to TikTok as images of kittens, among other things.
The Brussels Times
Anyone having thoughts about suicide can get help by contacting the Suicide Line on the number 1813 or by going to www.zelfmoord1813.be, or the Suicide Prevention Center at 0800 32 123 or at www.preventionsuicide.be
