Facebook to tackle suicide prevention in India

New Delhi: Facebook plans to launch tools to keep suicidal tendencies among Indian youth at bay. The feature – available in both English and Hindi – was developed with inputs from those who have had experience with self-injury and suicide attempts. Suicide helpline providers and NGOs AASRA and actor Deepika Padukone’s Live Love Laugh Foundation were the social media giant’s local partners.

To use the feature on Facebook, users have had to upload a screenshot or URL of the post on its suicide prevention page. With the updated tool, this feature, which works on both desktop and mobile, will be built directly into the posts. It was launched in the United States early in 2015 and subsequently in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom later that year.

Users concerned about someone’s Facebook status message that seemingly indicates suicidal tendencies can ‘report’ the post anonymously.

Ankhi Das, the public policy director of Facebook India, South and Central Asia, said “We have teams working around the world, 24/7, who review reports that come in. They prioritise the most serious reports like self-injury and send help and resources to those in distress.”