Like many girls her age, Italian teenager Carolina Picchio shared
her pictures, thoughts and emotions on Facebook.
But after a video of the 14-year-old allegedly showed up on
Facebook in which she appeared to be drunk and disoriented at a party, social
media became a source of torment.
An ex-boyfriend and his friends posted a steady barrage of
abusive, offensive messages aimed at Carolina. And what started out online
spilled into her daily life at school, and among her friends in the prosperous
northern Italian town of Novara.
Unbeknown to her family, it all became too much for her to handle.
In the early hours of January 5, she jumped out of her bedroom window, landing
headfirst on the concrete below.
Thousands of messages
Carolina's sister, Talita, and some of the teenager's friends say
they reported the abusive messages from her ex-boyfriend to Facebook in the
hope they would be removed. But, they say, nothing happened.
"He was insulting her, mistreating her," Talita said.
"We naturally spoke about it with her but she told us not to worry."
Now the Novara prosecutor, Francesco Saluzzo, is looking into the
possibility of filing a criminal complaint against Facebook for failing to
remove offensive content that may have led to Carolina's suicide.
"In the case of Carolina, it appears some of her friends,
some of her relatives, asked for the removal of some of this strong content,
and it wasn't removed -- and this played a role in her decision to commit
suicide," he said.
Besides the abusive messages on Facebook, on the day leading up to
her death, Carolina had received 2,600 vulgar messages via the messaging
service WhatsApp, the prosecutor's documents show.
'Have you hurt me enough?'
Carolina left a final letter addressed to her tormenters, which
her mother, Cristina Zocca, shared
"Are you happy now?" the teenager asked. "Have you
hurt me enough? Have you had enough revenge?"
Asked for the company's response, a spokesman for Facebook said,
"We are deeply saddened by the tragic death of Carolina Picchio and our
hearts go out to her family and friends.
"Harassment has no place on Facebook and we actively
encourage teens and parents to report incidences of bullying using the links
located throughout the site.
"We remove content reported to us that violates our Statement
of Rights and Responsibilities and we escalate reports of harassment and
bullying to law enforcement where appropriate."
Italian media reported in May that eight teenage boys ages 15 to
17 were being questioned by authorities on suspicion of incitement to suicide
and possession of child pornography.
But Carolina's mother believes Facebook and other social networks
must do more to confront the reality of online bullying.
"My battle is to make the social networks responsible, so that
there are protections for minors," she said.
"We can't allow for more Carolinas, or other mothers who must
cry and be deprived of the lives of their daughters."
Carolina's uncle has posted a video on YouTube dedicated to the
teenager and her death.
It has become a rallying point in Italy for the fight against
online bullying.
0 comments:
Post a Comment