Facebook under investigation over video of 14-year-old Italian girl who
leapt to her death following ‘cyber-bullying campaign’
Carolina
Picchio fell to her death form her third-floor window in January
Insulting video and photographs had been circulated over the internet
Italian Parent’s Association has filed a criminal complaint against
Facebook Eight teenagers are being questioned on suspicion of inciting
of suicide
Facebook is being investigated over the death of a
14-year-old Italian girl who leapt from her third-floor bedroom window
after bullying posts and a video of her appeared on the social media
site.
Tragic Carolina Picchio, from Novara in Northern Italy, fell to
her death in January this year, after insulting video and photographs
of her were circulated over the internet.
Eight teenagers, aged
between 15 and 17 years old, are being questioned by magistrates on
suspicion of inciting of suicide.
A video of Miss Picchio looking the
worse for wear in a bathroom at a party was uploaded to Facebook and
remained on the site for several days.
The Italian Parent’s
Association has now filed a criminal complaint against Facebook for its
role in Miss Picchio’s death.
Their director Antonio Affinita told
the Daily Telegraph: ‘This is the first time a parent’s group has filed
such a complaint against Facebook in Europe.
An unflattering video of
Miss Picchio looking the worse for wear in a bathroom at a party was
uploaded to Facebook
Abuse: The Italian Parent’s Association has now
filed a criminal complaint against Facebook for its role in Miss
Picchio’s death
‘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.’
The
video is believed to have been posted shortly after Miss Picchio left
her boyfriend. He had apparently used the site to insult her a few days
earlier.
A note written to him which was found in her bedroom read:
‘Isn’t what you have done to me enough? You have made me pay too many
times.’
Before she took her own life she posted a note on the site
which read: ‘Forgive me if I am not strong. I cannot take it any
longer.’
Some of the bullies are believed to have continued to post
abuse about Miss Picchio even after her death.
The offensive video is
believed to have been posted shortly after Miss Picchio left her
boyfriend. He had apparently used the site to insult her a few days
earlier
Miss Picchio was said to be a popular and well adjusted
teenager and has been described as ‘the prettiest girl in the whole
town’.
News of her suicide sparked a wave of Twitter messages
condemning the bullies.
‘Tomorrow I have to go back to school and see
those idiots. I can’t do it,’ read one post.
It is not the first
time that cyber-bullyinghas made headline new in Italy.
In 2010 three
Google executives were handed six-month suspended sentences after film
of a handicapped student being bullied was posted online. Google was
accused of allowing the students privacy to be violated.
The sentence
was overturned on appeal in December last year, although that decision
is now being contested at Italy’s Supreme Court.
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