Social:Sanctioned Suicide

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Short description: Internet forum promoting suicide


Sanctioned Suicide
Sanctioned Suicide text logo, SS.
Screenshot
Sanctioned Suicide Home Page Screenshot.png
Screenshot of Sanctioned Suicide on May 11, 2022
Type of site
Internet forum
Available inEnglish
Founder(s)Diego Joaquín Galante and Lamarcus Small
RegistrationOptional[notes 1]
LaunchedMarch 2018; 6 years ago (2018-03)[1]
Current statusOnline

Sanctioned Suicide (SS) is an anonymous internet forum known for its unrestricted discussion of suicide and suicide methods.[2][3][4] The forum was founded in 2018 by self-described incels Diego Joaquín Galante and Lamarcus Small, known respectively by online pseudonyms Serge and Marquis, as the successor to the banned subreddit r/SanctionedSuicide.[2][1][5] Sanctioned Suicide drew over 10 million page views in September 2022 and as of March 2023, the forum has over 30,000 members.[6] Although the forum frames itself as a "pro-choice" suicide forum, the forum has been widely described as a pro-suicide forum.[3][7][8]

The forum has generated intense scrutiny from news outlets and government officials for the encouragement of suicide by members on the site,[9][7][10][11] as well as the site's promotion of the use of sodium nitrite as a method of suicide, a previously obscure method.[2][4][8] One The New York Times report found 45 adults and children who died in connection to the site,[2] and a later report found dozens more.[12] The BBC has identified 21 people who have died in connection to the site in the United Kingdom.[13] Access to the forum has been restricted in Italy and Germany.[2][14][15]

History

r/SanctionedSuicide and Sanctioned Suicide have been described as the successors of the Usenet newsgroup alt.suicide.holiday and a homonymously named forum accessible through the Tor network.[3][16][17]

On March 14, 2018, the r/SanctionedSuicide subreddit was banned for breaking Reddit's rules on the promotion of violence, prompting Galante and Small to create the site.[1][18] Following the naming of the two co-founders by The New York Times in 2021, Galante and Small announced their resignations from administration of the site, writing that they handed the forum over to a member going by the username RainAndSadness.[4]

The New York Times investigation

Megan Twohey and Gabriel Dance of The New York Times reportedly discovered the full names of the site founders during the 2021 data breach of the domain registrar Epik. Twohey and Dance obtained photos of Galante and Small that matched previous appearances of Serge and Marquis. When contacted by The New York Times, Small stated that he had no involvement with the website, suggested his brother may run the site, and denied his mother's name reportedly listed on police records.[2][19] Galante acknowledged using the pseudonym Serge on the forum but denied founding or operating it,[4] contradicting records on the site which describe the 'Serge' alias as a co-founder and administrator of the website.[2]

In an interview with the Poynter Institute, Twohey stated that the potential of raising the profile of the forum or of specific suicide methods were "two of the biggest ethical issues that we had ever dealt with".[20]

Overlap with incel forums

Galante and Small describe themselves as incels and have been found to run a number of incel and manosphere related forums where members condone, downplay, or advocate violence against women.[1][5] In a September 2022 report, the Center for Countering Digital Hate described one of the forums, incels.is, as the largest forum dedicated to incel ideology.[10] Sanctioned Suicide has been noted as the only forum run by Galante and Small that does not restrict access by women.[1][10] The New York Times investigation reported that Small framed the site as part of a fight against censorship, with a former member stating that Small is 'idolized' by the Sanctioned Suicide community.[2]

The incel communities run by Small and Galante promote the "blackpill", a misogynistic and biological determinist ideology.[2][21] Tim Squirrel of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue stated that "blackpill" communities commonly condone or advocate for suicide or mass violence.[21] Squirrel, while speaking about his report, says that the aforementioned incel wiki community members sometimes links to a forum with suicide instructions.[22]

Deaths

The 2021 New York Times investigation identified multiple individuals who died by suicide following activity on Sanctioned Suicide, including a 16-year-old who died by suicide after being encouraged by members of the site in response to a post on the site about his abdominal pain and anxiety. The investigation also identified a 22-year-old woman from Glasgow who died by suicide after meeting Craig McInally through the site; McInally had previously sexually assaulted and assisted in the suicides of several other women through the forum.[2] In December 2022, McInally pled guilty to culpable and reckless conduct, with a sexual element and is believed to be the first person arrested in connection to the site.[2][7]

The New York Times also identified an Australian who died by suicide after members of Sanctioned Suicide taunted him and asked him to film his death.[2] An investigation from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the same death reported that his family believes the forum was the deciding factor in his death.[8]

According to a survey conducted on the site, half of the forum's userbase were 25 or younger. Multiple parents of children who died by suicide after spending time on the site have publicly called on the forum to shut down. The moderators of the forum have since taken action to restrict the accounts of dead users, preventing family members or law enforcement from gaining access to them. Although the site includes links to suicide hotlines and other mental health resources, Small noted that people who joined the site only for recovery would be unlikely to be let in.[2]

Legal response

In March 2020, the site was removed from online search results in Germany.[2] Prosecutors in Italy blocked access to the site in June 2021 following the deaths of two Italian teenagers by suicide.[14]

A December 2021 The New York Times article identified 45 people who died by suicide after spending time on the website.[2] In response, Uruguayan law enforcement has launched an investigation against Galante, who resides in Uruguay. However, sources from the Prosecutor's Office say that "it is very difficult for there to be a crime" since "Uruguayan legislation requires that there be an effective assistance to suicide in order to charge a crime".[4][23][24] Both of the founders stepped down in the wake of The New York Times investigation.[4]

In April 2019, the original .com domain of Sanctioned Suicide was blocked by the Australian Federal Police under Section 313 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. An investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation found that deaths from sodium nitrite spiked in Australia following its promotion on the website. In response to these deaths, the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia reclassified the substance, further restricting its sale.[8] Following the publication of the ABC investigation, Sanctioned Suicide blocked access to the site in Australia, stating "anti-liberty countries will just be blocked".[15] While the .org domain remains blocked in Australia, access to the site remains unrestricted through the .net and .site domains.

In December 2021, members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland to clarify what action could be taken against the site under U.S. law. Following a statement from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Bing responded by lowering the ranking of the site in its search results.[4] Many U.S. states have laws against assisting suicide, but they are often vague, do not explicitly address online activity, and are rarely enforced.[4]

See also

  • Antinatalism
  • Euthanasia
  • Right to die
  • Incels.is
  • Suicide prevention

Notes

  1. ↑ While parts of the site can be viewed without an account, registration is required to post new threads, reply, react, message, and access the private subforum.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Nashrulla, Tasneem (2019-06-06). "Incels Are Running An Online Suicide Forum That Was Blamed For A Young Woman's Death" (in en-US). https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/incels-suicide-forum-woman-killed-herself. 
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 Twohey, Megan; Dance, Gabriel J. X. (2021-12-09). "Where the Despairing Log On, and Learn Ways to Die" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/09/us/where-the-despairing-log-on.html. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Love, Shayla (2020-11-19). "People Are Dying After Joining a 'Pro-Choice' Suicide Forum" (in en-US). https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3vn9a/people-are-dying-after-joining-a-pro-choice-suicide-forum-how-much-is-the-site-to-blame. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Dance, Gabriel J. X.; Twohey, Megan (2021-12-21). "Lawmakers Urge Big Tech to 'Mitigate Harm' of Suicide Site and Seek Justice Inquiry" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/21/technology/suicide-website-google.html. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lorenz, Taylor (2022-09-23). "The online incel movement is getting more violent and extreme, report says". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/22/incels-rape-murder-study/. 
  6. ↑ Dance, Gabriel J. X.; Twohey, Megan (2022-11-02). "Bill Outlawing Online Suicide Assistance Would Open Sites to Liability" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/technology/online-suicide-assistance-bill.html. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Delaney, James (2022-12-22). "First conviction for man who encouraged women on website to take own lives" (in en-GB). https://news.stv.tv/west-central/glasgow-man-craig-mcinally-encouraged-women-to-take-own-life-and-choked-student-until-she-passed-out. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "There is a pro-suicide website linked to deaths in Australia. Getting it shut down is not so simple" (in en-AU). ABC News. 2022-11-15. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-16/fight-to-block-pro-suicide-website/101530766. 
  9. ↑ McGarvey, Emily (2021-05-08). "Mother speaks out against suicide forum after son's death" (in en-NI). BBC Northern Ireland. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-56845565. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Ahmed, Imran (2022-09-23). "The Incelosphere: Exposing pathways into incel communities and the harms they pose to women and children". p. 16. https://counterhate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/CCDH-The-Incelosphere..pdf. 
  11. ↑ Bucher, Merideth (2019-09-23). "Shawn's Law; a bill to combat aided suicide" (in en). https://www.witf.org/2019/09/23/shawns-law-a-bill-to-combat-encouraging-suicide/. 
  12. ↑ Dance, Gabriel J. X.; Twohey, Megan (2022-11-02). "Bill Outlawing Online Suicide Assistance Would Open Sites to Liability" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/technology/online-suicide-assistance-bill.html. 
  13. ↑ Crawford, Angus; Smith, Tony (2022-02-02). "The families fighting to shut down suicide websites". BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-60236776. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Site blocked for helping youngsters to kill themselves - English" (in en). 2021-06-07. https://www.ansa.it/english/news/general_news/2021/06/07/site-blocked-for-helping-youngsters-to-kill-themselves_da6fbf6d-8b7f-414d-ab43-d32026479077.html. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Bridges, Alicia (2022-11-21). "A pro-suicide website linked to deaths is now blocked to Australians, but not because of the families who spoke out" (in en-AU). ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-21/pro-suicide-website-blocks-australians-after-families-speak-out/101680284. 
  16. ↑ Brown, Jennings (2016-12-05). "The Strange Legacy Of The Internet's First Sanctioned Suicide Forum" (in en-US). https://www.vocativ.com/372267/suicide-forums/. 
  17. ↑ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (2015-03-27). "The Deep Web Suicide Site" (in en). https://www.vice.com/en/article/nze5ww/the-deep-web-suicide-site. 
  18. ↑ "SanctionedSuicide: banned". 2018-03-14. https://www.reddit.com/r/SanctionedSuicide. 
  19. ↑ Barbaro, Michael (9 December 2021). "Kids are dying. How are these sites still allowed?". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/podcasts/the-daily/suicide-investigation.html. 
  20. ↑ Allen, Barbara (16 December 2021). "How The New York Times handled life-or-death ethical issues while reporting on a popular suicide website". https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2021/how-the-new-york-times-handled-life-or-death-ethical-issues-while-reporting-on-a-popular-suicide-website/. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Squirrel, Tim. "Spitting out the Blackpill: Evaluating how Incels Present Themselves in their own Words on the Incel Wiki". https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/spitting-out-the-blackpill-evaluating-how-incels-present-themselves-in-their-own-words-on-the-incel-wiki/. 
  22. ↑ Lamoureux, Mack. "Incels Are Using Their Wiki to Clean Their Abhorrent Reputation and Recruit 'Normies'". https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgyb3d/incel-wiki-recruitment. 
  23. ↑ Tong, Scott; McMahon, Serena. "Disturbing website encourages vulnerable users to die by suicide. What's being done about it?" (in en). https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/01/18/suicide-websites-caution. 
  24. ↑ "Fiscalía investigará a uruguayo presuntamente vinculado a web que promociona el suicidio". Montevideo.com. https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Noticias/Fiscalia-investigara-a-uruguayo-presuntamente-vinculado-a-web-que-promociona-el-suicidio-uc807881. 




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