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The death of the 58-year-old man on February 2, identified as Abu Mohsin Khan, father-in-law of renowned Bangladeshi actor Riaz Uddin Ahamed Siddique, shocked the South Asian country, which recorded more than 14,000 suicides in 2019, reports Arab News.
The livestream incident prompted the country’s Criminal Investigation Department to work with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and TikTok to identify users at risk of suicide. In the weeks since starting their collaboration, police said they have been alerted to at least one suicide threat daily.
“The persons we identified as vulnerable to suicide are suffering from trauma. All of them were found in a detached mental state from family or society,” Mohammad Mahmudul Islam Talukder, assistant superintendent at CID’s Cyber Police Center, told Arab News.
“The people need assistance and counselling,” he added, describing the situation as a “humanitarian” issue.
Police data showed men aged 16 to 32 in Bangladesh are more prone to suicide.
Talukder said Meta uses artificial intelligence to identify suicide risks on their platforms, taking into account not only certain keywords but also analyzing images and videos that may showcase people in danger of harming themselves.
The police, meanwhile, have 14 members in their expert team working on this issue.
Meta has said it does not allow self-harm or suicide to be promoted or celebrated on Facebook and Instagram. The company removed copies of Khan’s suicide, and implemented measures to prevent other users from reposting the content.
In the US and other countries, Meta has in recent years worked with law enforcement to flag possible suicide threats, but this appears to be the first time such collaboration has taken place in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh police said they are also working with video-sharing platform TikTok in suicide prevention efforts.
