Sanctioned Suicide

For related topics, see Suicide (disambiguation). For information on prevention, see Suicide prevention.

Sanctioned Suicide

Logo
Screenshot Screenshot of Sanctioned Suicide on May 11, 2022, with various scenes of nature greyed out
Type of site	Internet forum
Available in	English
Founder(s)	Diego Joaquín Galante Lamarcus Small
Registration	Optional [a]
Users	52,657
Launched	March 18, 2018;6 years ago (2018-03-18)
Current status	Online

Sanctioned Suicide (SS, or SaSu) is an internet forum known for its open discussion and encouragement of suicide and suicide methods. ^{[1] [2] [3]} The forum was founded on March 18, 2018, by Diego Joaquín Galante and Lamarcus Small, ^[1] who go by the online pseudonyms Serge and Marquis. Galante and Small created the website after the subreddit r/SanctionedSuicide was banned by Reddit; both the website and the subreddit have been described as the successors to the Usenet newsgroup alt.suicide.holiday. As of November 2024 ^[update] , the forum has over 50,000 members and was reported to receive nearly 10 million page views in September 2023. Although the forum frames itself as a "pro-choice" suicide forum, ^[2] it has been widely described as "pro-suicide". ^{[4] [5] [6] : 2}

Sanctioned Suicide has generated widespread scrutiny from news outlets and government officials for the encouragement of suicide by members on the site, ^{[4] [7] [8]} as well as the site's promotion of the use of sodium nitrite as a method of suicide, a previously obscure method. ^{[1] [3] [5]} One New York Times report found 45 adults and children who died in connection to the site, and a later report found dozens more. BBC News has identified 50 people who died in connection to the site in the United Kingdom. Access to the forum has been restricted in Italy and Germany. Since November 2023, Turkey also blocked access to the site. ^[9]

History and background

See also: Controversial Reddit communities § r/SanctionedSuicide

The r/SanctionedSuicide subreddit and Sanctioned Suicide have been described as the successors of the Usenet newsgroup alt.suicide.holiday. ^{[10] [11] : 2} On March 14, 2018, r/SanctionedSuicide was banned for breaking Reddit's rules on the promotion of violence, ^{[12] : 285} prompting Galante and Small to create the site on March 18, 2018. ^{[13] [11] : 2} In January 2021, Sanctioned Suicide's original .com domain name was banned by the domain name registrar Epik, allegedly for the presence of minors on the site. ^{[1] [12] : 285} Following the ban, the site moved to a different domain name. ^{[12] : 285}

The New York Times investigation

Journalists Megan Twohey and Gabriel Dance of The New York Times reportedly discovered the full names of the site founders during the October 2021 data breach of Epik. ^[1] Following the breach, Twohey and Dance obtained photos of Galante and Small that matched previous appearances of their pseudonymous identities Serge and Marquis. ^[1] 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. ^[1] Galante acknowledged using the pseudonym Serge on the forum but denied founding or operating it, ^[3] contradicting records on the site which described him as a co-founder and administrator of the website. ^[1] After the two co-founders were named by The New York Times, Galante and Small announced their resignations as administrators, writing that they handed the forum over to a member going by the username RainAndSadness. ^[3]

In an interview with the Poynter Institute, Twohey stated that the decision to name the website and the suicide methods promoted by the site were "two of the biggest ethical issues that we had ever dealt with". ^[14] Following discussions with medical experts, law enforcement, and families, The New York Times team chose to name the website and the preservative once in the report, so as not to potentially raise the website's profile. ^[14]

Galante and Small

Diego Joaquín Galante and Lamarcus Small describe themselves as incels and run a number of incel and manosphere related forums where members' discussions have been characterized as condoning, downplaying, or advocating violence against women. ^{[13] [15]} A September 2022 report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate described one of the forums as the largest forum dedicated to incel ideology. ^{[16] : 11} In response to a 2019 BuzzFeed News report which disclosed their connection to the incel forums, Small stated that the site's moderation was handled independently of the incel sites. ^[13] Sanctioned Suicide has been noted as the only forum run by Galante and Small that does not restrict access by women. ^{[13] [16] : 13}TheNew York Times investigation also reported that Small framed the site as part of a fight against censorship after the site received scrutiny for several deaths associated with the forum. ^[1] An October 2023 BBC News investigation identified Small and confronted him at his home. ^[17]

Site overview

Screenshot of the Suicide Discussion forum

The site is divided into three forums: Recovery, Suicide Discussion, and Offtopic. ^{[18] : 4060} The recovery forum hosts recovery-related support discussions, the suicide discussion forum hosts discussions on suicide methods, and the offtopic forum hosts discussions on hobbies and other general interests. ^{[18] : 4060} The suicide discussion forum is substantially more popular than the other two forums, ^{[18] : 4060} including both detailed discussions of suicide methods and encouragement to commit suicide, which users refer to by the euphemism "catching the bus". ^{[10] [16] : 13, 16} The site also hosts live chats and private messaging. ^[19] As of November 2024 ^[update] , the forum has over 50,000 members ^[20] and was reported to receive nearly 10 million page views in September 2023. ^[21]

An April 2023 study published by the Association for Computing Machinery found that most new users were active only in the first few weeks after making their accounts and their first posts were more likely to be about suicide and methods. ^{[18] : 4061–4062} According to an informal survey conducted on the site, half of the forum's userbase were 25 or younger. ^[1] The forum has been widely described as pro-suicide, ^{[4] [5] [6] : 2} although the site frames itself as "pro-choice" and denies that it actively encourages suicide. ^[2] While the site includes links to suicide hotlines and other mental health resources, Small noted that registrants who only sought the recovery forum would be unlikely to be approved. ^[1] An investigation by the Australian ABC News noted that members have responded to attempts to direct people to hotlines or other supports with antagonism and accusations of being "pro-life". ^[5]

Deaths

A December 2021 New York Times investigation identified 45 members who died by suicide in connection to the website, ^[1] with a later report finding dozens more. ^[22] In October 2023, BBC News identified 50 people who died in connection to the site in the United Kingdom. ^[20] The New York Times investigation also identified more than 500 threads where users announced their suicide plans and did not continue to post. ^{[1] [6] : 1} Among those identified by The New York Times was a 22-year-old woman from Glasgow who died by suicide after meeting a man on the site who had previously sexually assaulted and assisted in the suicides of several other women through the forum. ^[1] In December 2022, he pled guilty to culpable and reckless conduct with a sexual element and is reportedly the first person in the UK convicted in connection to the site. ^{[4] [23]}

A PBS overview of the New York Times investigation specifically focuses on a male minor who was encouraged on the site to take his own life via the meat preservative sodium nitrite. His parents found him deceased on his bed. ^[24] Prior to his death, the boy stated on the forum his worry about never recovering from an undiagnosed stomach ailment which was causing him pain after eating. ^[1] While speaking about the boy, journalist Gabriel Dance stated "this Web site doesn't really help people with interventions, as much as it helps them carry out any kind of plans they have to kill themselves". ^[24]

The New York Times also identified an Australian who died by suicide after members of Sanctioned Suicide taunted him and suggested he should film his death. ^[1] An investigation by the Australian ABC News on the same death reported that his family believes the forum was the deciding factor in his death. ^[5] Multiple parents of children who died by suicide after spending time on the site have publicly called on the forum to shut down, ^[1] including a Facebook group with over 1,000 members. ^[2] The moderators of the forum have since restricted the accounts of dead users to prevent family members or law enforcement from accessing them. ^[1]

Response

In April 2019, the original .com domain name of Sanctioned Suicide was blocked by the Australian Federal Police under Section 313 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. ^[5] Informal requests from the Australian eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant to Google and Microsoft Bing to delist the website from search results were declined, citing the need to balance safety with the open access of lawful information. ^[5] Although both search engines have adjusted the site's ranking in its search results, the companies have stated that they will not delist the site absent a legal requirement. ^{[1] [5]} A November 2022 Australian ABC News investigation found that between 2017 and October 2020, there had been 20 suicide deaths from the meat preservative sodium nitrite ^[1] in Australia, an increase from zero deaths across the previous 16 years. ^[5] In response, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration reclassified the substance in 2022, further restricting its sale. ^[5] Following the publication of the ABC investigation, which led some internet service providers (ISPs) to block the site, Sanctioned Suicide blocked access to the site in Australia, stating "anti-liberty countries will just be blocked". ^[25]

In March 2020, the site was blocked from online search results in Germany. ^[1] Prosecutors in Italy blocked access to the site in June 2021 following the deaths of two Italian teenagers by suicide. ^[26] In December 2021, seven bipartisan 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. ^{[3] [27]} Following a statement from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Bing responded by lowering the ranking of the site in its search results, ^[3] however both Google and Bing declined requests to remove the site from search results absent a legal requirement. ^[1] While many U.S. states have laws against assisting suicide, federal law provides immunity from liability for web operators for most user-generated content. ^[1] April Foreman, a psychologist on the executive board of the American Association of Suicidology, argued that rather than block the site, better systems of support for people with suicidal ideation need to be created. ^[2]

Following the October 2023 BBC News investigation, several British ISPs, including Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, BT and Virgin Media, announced that the site would be blocked on default safety controls. ^[17] Administrators for the site partially restricted access to the site in the United Kingdom after being contacted by the British digital regulatory agency Ofcom. ^[28] A banner on the site announced that new users from the UK will not be able to access content on the website that violates the Online Safety Act. ^[28] In addition, audio streaming service Spotify disabled the site's Spotify social login, which the company states was added by a third party developer without their knowledge. ^[17] In response to reactions in the UK, Small made a post on the web forum Kiwi Farms stating that restricting access to the site or "harass[ing] me isn't going to solve the mental health crisis". ^[17]

In response to The New York Times investigation, Uruguayan law enforcement launched an investigation against Galante, who resides in Uruguay. ^[3] However, sources from the prosecutor's office stated that "it is very difficult to establish a crime" ^[b] since Uruguayan law requires personal involvement. ^[29]

See also

• Antinatalism
• Assisted suicide
• Death-positive movement
• Internet censorship
• Internet governance
• Internet safety
• Nihilism
• Philosophy of suicide
• Right to die
• Suicide and the Internet
• Suicide prevention
• Voluntary euthanasia
• Kenneth Law, a Canadian man who is alleged to have sold poison on the site ^[30]

Notes

1. While parts of the site can be viewed without an account, registration is required to post new threads, reply, react, message, use the search function and access the private subforum.
2. Spanish: "es muy difícil que haya un delito"

References

1. Twohey, Megan; Dance, Gabriel J. X. (December 9, 2021). "Where the Despairing Log On, and Learn Ways to Die" . The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Gale   A686537417. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
2. Love, Shayla (November 19, 2020). "People Are Dying After Joining a 'Pro-Choice' Suicide Forum". Vice News . Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
3. Dance, Gabriel J. X.; Twohey, Megan (December 21, 2021). "Lawmakers Urge Big Tech to 'Mitigate Harm' of Suicide Site and Seek Justice Inquiry". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
4. Delaney, James (December 22, 2022). "First conviction for man who encouraged women on website to take own lives". STV News . Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
5. Bridges, Alicia (November 15, 2022). "There is a pro-suicide website linked to deaths in Australia. Getting it shut down is not so simple". ABC News . Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
6. Alvarez, Mike (May 31, 2022). "'Life is about trying to find a better place to live': Discourses of dwelling in a pro-recovery suicide forum". Qualitative Research in Medicine and Healthcare. 6 (1): 10437. doi:10.4081/qrmh.2022.10437. ISSN   2532-2044. PMC   10336861 . PMID   37441057.
7. McGarvey, Emily (May 8, 2021). "Mother speaks out against suicide forum after son's death". BBC Northern Ireland . Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
8. Bucher, Merideth (September 23, 2019). "Shawn's Law; a bill to combat aided suicide". WITF . Archived from the original on February 28, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
9. "Turkish Internet Restrictions". internet.btk.gov.tr. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
10. Brown, Jennings (December 5, 2016). "The Strange Legacy Of The Internet's First Sanctioned Suicide Forum". Vocativ . Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
11. Dilkes, Jane (June 1, 2022). "Quantifying Changes in Language to Evaluate the Social and Psychological Effect of Participation in a Pro-Choice Suicide Forum". Workshop Proceedings of the 16th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media. 2022: 69. doi:10.36190/2022.69.
12. Dilkes, Jane (2022). The social and psychological work of metaphor: a corpus linguistic investigation (PhD thesis). University of Birmingham.
13. Nashrulla, Tasneem (June 6, 2019). "Incels Are Running An Online Suicide Forum That Was Blamed For A Young Woman's Death". BuzzFeed News . Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
14. Allen, Barbara (December 16, 2021). "How The New York Times handled life-or-death ethical issues while reporting on a popular suicide website". Poynter . Archived from the original on December 2, 2022. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
15. Lorenz, Taylor (September 23, 2022). "The online incel movement is getting more violent and extreme, report says". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
16. Ahmed, Imran (September 23, 2022). "The Incelosphere: Exposing pathways into incel communities and the harms they pose to women and children" (PDF). Center for Countering Digital Hate . Archived (PDF) from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
17. Crawford, Angus; Smith, Tony (November 1, 2023). "Broadband providers block suicide website linked to 50 deaths". BBC News . Retrieved November 30, 2023.
18. Sartori, Elisa; Pajola, Luca; Da San Martino, Giovanni; Conti, Mauro (April 30, 2023). "The Impact of Covid-19 on Online Discussions: The Case Study of the Sanctioned Suicide Forum". WWW '23: Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2023. WWW '23. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 4060–4064. doi:10.1145/3543507.3583879. ISBN   978-1-4503-9416-1. S2CID   258333709.
19. Gutierrez, Lisa (March 6, 2022). "These Kansas Citians died by suicide. A website showed them how, and it's all legal". The Kansas City Star . Retrieved July 23, 2023.
20. Crawford, Angus; Smith, Tony (October 24, 2023). "'Failure to act' on suicide website linked to 50 UK deaths". BBC News . Retrieved October 25, 2023.
21. Dance, Gabriel J. X.; Twohey, Megan (November 2, 2022). "Bill Outlawing Online Suicide Assistance Would Open Sites to Liability". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
22. Dance, Gabriel J. X.; Twohey, Megan (November 2, 2022). "Bill Outlawing Online Suicide Assistance Would Open Sites to Liability". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
23. "Man jailed for trying to get student to take to her own life". BBC News . December 22, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
24. "Why a website with explicit directions for suicide remains active". PBS NewsHour. December 16, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
25. Bridges, Alicia (November 21, 2022). "A pro-suicide website linked to deaths is now blocked to Australians, but not because of the families who spoke out". ABC News . Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
26. "Site blocked for helping youngsters to kill themselves - English". ANSA . June 7, 2021. Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
27. Schnell, Mychael (December 21, 2021). "Lawmakers call on tech firms to take threat of suicide site seriously, limit its visibility". The Hill. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
28. Smith, Tony; Crawford, Angus (November 10, 2023). "Suicide forum blocked to most UK users after Ofcom pressure". BBC News . Retrieved November 30, 2023.
29. "Fiscalía investigará a uruguayo presuntamente vinculado a web que promociona el suicidio" [Prosecutor's Office will investigate a Uruguayan allegedly linked to a website that promotes suicide]. Montevideo Portal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
30. Mosleh, Omar (January 31, 2024). "Users of this online forum counsel each other to take their own lives. Inside the Sanctioned Suicide community". Toronto Star. Retrieved June 1, 2024.

Further reading

• Landy, Justin F.; Shah, Pritika (January 2022). "What drives opposition to suicide? Two exploratory studies of normative judgments" (PDF). Judgment and Decision Making . 17 (1): 164–188. doi: 10.1017/S1930297500009062 . ISSN   1930-2975.
• Marsh, Ian; Winter, Rachel; Marzano, Lisa (January 2022). "Representing suicide: Giving voice to a desire to die?". Health . 26 (1): 10–26. doi:10.1177/13634593211046843. ISSN   1363-4593. PMC   8674799 . PMID   34541907.