Google denies breaching law by promoting suicide forum linked to 164 UK deaths | Google
Google has denied breaching the Online Safety Act by promoting a “nihilistic” suicide forum linked to 164 deaths in the UK, which should be banned.
The UK’s internet regulator fined the forum’s US-based operator £950,000; because the site, which “posed a risk of serious harm”, was still accessible in the UK despite British law making it an offense to encourage or assist suicide.
However, a link to the website still appears in Google’s search results, allowing users with basic software to bypass the block and access advice on suicide methods.
Google’s promotion of the site, which was not named by the Guardian, was raised by the Molly Rose Foundation, an online safety campaigner, whose chief executive Andy Burrows told Radio 4’s Today programme: “If you search by name it will still come up in the search results; this is a clear breach of the law, but Ofcom has so far refused to act on it.”
The site listed by Google was the second entry under a link about the Samaritans. The relevant URL links to a page where forum operators say access is “voluntarily restricted to users in the United Kingdom due to legal risks associated with the UK Online Safety Act 2023.”
However, it contains the address of the website, which can be used to access the entire site using VPN software that simulates a computer located in a different country.
When set to simulate internet access from the United States, Germany, and France, the entire forum was easily accessible, including detailed advice on the effectiveness of various suicide methods.
The Molly Rose Foundation, established in memory of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who committed suicide after viewing negative online content, including suicide, issued a quote: section of the Online Safety Act of 2023 It states that search services “must take or use proportionate measures in the design or operation of the service to effectively reduce and manage risks of harm to individuals.”
Google has denied violating the law. Ofcom regulations allow search engines to respond to “navigational” queries, it said, adding that its results prioritize user safety by including contextual news coverage as well as a prominent help box with support resources such as Samaritans. It said it aims to balance robust security protections with the principle of ensuring access to information and will enforce official court orders to restrict access to certain sites.
Molly Rose, with campaign group Families and Survivors to Prevent Online Suicide Harm He said coroners had warned the UK government about the forum’s risk of further death “and a substance that he encourages, glorifies and instructs to use as a method of suicide.”
Adele Zeynep Walton, who took the life of her sister Aimee Walton after entering the site, said: “Families like mine have been waiting in pain for action to be taken against the site, which has taken the lives of our loved ones and at least 164 people in the UK. While we waited, more lives were lost and we had to fight every step of the way.”
Ofcom has been urging the site since last spring to comply with British law, which makes it an offense to deliberately encourage or assist suicide.
The Online Security Act also allows Ofcom to seek a court order requiring internet service providers to block UK access to the site. The regulator is preparing an application to effectively disconnect the site if its concerns about the breach are not addressed.
