A webcam chat-room in Thailand has been shut down after a 24 year old woman broadcast her suicide on the service.
The woman hanged herself in front of a webcam broadcasting on the Camfrog internet service. Before doing so she is believed to have posted messages in the “ghost radio” chat-room to say that she was unhappy that her boyfriend had split up with her. Thai police are treating the death as suicide based on this information.
The suicide has sparked an outcry in Thailand over the improper use of webcam based chat-rooms. Authorities have been urged by mental health experts to stop any video copies of the suicide from being distributed over the internet to prevent copycat suicides.
This is not the first time webcam based chat-rooms have caused concerns in Thailand. The same site, Camfrog, was in the news a few years ago when it was found that youngsters were stripping off for sex chats with strangers. The are also reports that the site has been used by teens to sell drugs.
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The “ghost radio” chat-room where the woman broadcast her suicide, has now shutdown. It’s not known at this time if it will reopen.
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