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Facebook to be Probed over Teenager’s Suicide in Italy

Carolina“Forgive me if I am not strong. I cannot take it any longer.” was Carolina Picchio’s last post on Facebook before she jumped through her third floor bedroom window to her death and now an Italian prosecutor has launched an investigation into how Facebook allowed publication of insults and bullying posts aimed at her.

A group of 8 boys aged between 15 and 17 posted a video of the 14 year old girl from Novara in Northern Italy appearing drunk and disheveled in a bathroom at a party. This was apparently to spit her for breaking up with their friend, who had allegedly insulted her on Facebook when she left him although he claims to have later apologized.

“Isn’t what you have done to me enough? You have made me pay too many times,” Miss Picchio wrote in a note to the boy which was found in her room by investigators.

The Italian Parent’s Association has already filed a criminal complaint in Rome directly against Facebook for allegedly having a role in the instigation of Miss Picchio’s suicide.

“This is the first time a parent’s group has filed such a complaint against Facebook in Europe,” said director Antonio Affinita. “Italian law forbids minors under 18 signing contracts, yet Facebook is effectively entering into a contract with minors regarding their privacy, without their parents knowing.”

Francesco Saluzzo, the Novara prosecutor, said he did not rule out placing Facebook staff under investigation.

Mr Saluzzo told The Daily Telegraph he was probing how the videos had stayed online “for days”, even after Miss Picchio’s friends requested its removal.

“There is a procedure for asking for the removal of messages that break rules,” he said. “This is an open investigation without named suspects, as yet. Facebook itself is not under investigation. But we could theoretically investigate employees of Facebook who failed to respond to these requests.”

Mr Affinita, of the parents’ association, said Miss Picchio’s death was “the last straw” after a 15 year old school boy in Rome killed himself in 2012, having allegedly been taunted as a homosexual on Facebook.

Facebook offers “report” links on its pages to allow the highlighting of offensive content, and in 2011 launched a “Stop Bullying, Speak Up” application to raise awareness of the problem.

Italian magistrates already have a record of challenging social media providers who host offensive content.

Three Google executives were given six month suspended sentences in 2010 for allowing the posting on Google Video a film in Italy of the bullying of a handicapped student. Prosecutors claimed that Google had allowed the student’s privacy to be violated.

The case was then overturned on appeal last December, but a magistrate is now appealing the acquittal before Italy’s Supreme Court.

Credit: Business Insider

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