Ofcom fines US suicide forum £950,000 for failing to block UK users

Jess Phillips’s frustration about online safety highlights the alarming reluctance to confront big techThe £950,000 fine imposed by Ofcom on a US-based suicide forum that is implicated in over 160 UK deaths marks an intensification of the regulator’s efforts to make the internet safer. Campaigners against online harms, including relatives of people who have taken their own lives, are justifiably angry that it has taken so long to get to this point. Even now, Ofcom is giving the website’s operator the chance to address “concerns” and avoid a court order that would ban access to it.But if enforcement remains a tortuous process, at least the principle is clear. It is illegal to encourage or assist a suicide in England and Wales (in Scotland, such actions could lead to prosecution as reckless endangerment or a range of other offences). A situation whereby behaviour is tolerated online, when it would carry criminal penalties if carried out in person, cannot be allowed. Continue reading...

Link to US-based site, whose operators were fined £950,000 by Ofcom, appears in Google’s search results and can be accessed in UKGoogle has denied breaching the Online Safety Act by promoting a “nihilistic” suicide forum associated with 164 deaths in the UK where it is supposed to be banned.The UK’s internet regulator fined the forum’s US-based operator £950,000 because the site, which “presents a material risk of significant harm”, can still be accessed in the UK despite British laws criminalising encouraging or assisting suicide. Continue reading...

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain's media regulator on Wednesday slapped the United States (US) based host of an online forum blamed for 130 deaths in the United Kingdom (UK) with a £950,000 fine ($1.3 million) for "content encouraging and assisting suicide". Without naming the site, Ofcom said that the regulator had "concluded that the forum's provider has failed -- and continues to fail -- to comply with its duties to assess and mitigate the risk of people in the UK encountering illegal content in its service". Ofcom also ordered the platform to take action to prevent British users from accessing content promoting suicide within 10 working days, or face being blocked in the UK. After launching an investigation in April 2025, the regulator said it had found "instructional 'guides' and threads detailing different methods of suicide, some of which have been present on the site for years". "Many of these have been either pinned or reposted by the provider itself, demonstrating that it is aware of this content." At first, the platform argued it was not required to take action as it was based in the United States. But the regulator insisted that the UK's Online Safety Act forces it to comply with British laws prohibiting the intentional encouragement or assistance of suicide, as well as the requirement to take down harmful content. In a post on X, the Molly Rose Foundation for preventing suicide welcomed the move, but said that "this should never have taken 13 months". The charity estimates that 130 people have died in the UK after following the advice found on the forum.

Ofcom attempts to block UK access to site cited in multiple coroners’ reports as it levies fine under Online Safety ActA nihilistic internet suicide forum implicated in over 160 UK deaths has been fined £950,000 by the online regulator in its latest attempt to shut it down.Ofcom said the US-based website remained accessible in the UK despite over a year of warnings. Online safety campaigners have accused the regulator of taking an “interminable” amount of time to act. Continue reading...

The regulator said the forum had not done enough to protect UK users - but critics accuse Ofcom of acting too slowly.

Ofcom has fined an online suicide forum £950,000 for failing to protect UK users from illegal content. The site, linked to over 130 deaths, now faces a court-mandated block if it remains active.