Social media can be a dangerous place sometimes. But other times, it can be the only place where someone can share their desperate cry for help. And these days, with the cases of cyber crimes, bullying and suicide amongst the youth on the rise, more and more authorities are keeping an eye out for any such cries for help, whether overt or covert. And this might have just helped save the life of a girl from Assam.
Thanks to the timely action of Facebook authorities, the Assam Police was able to prevent a young Guwahati girl from committing suicide.
The success of the rescue was shared by the Assam Police on their official Twitter handle two days ago.
Info was received from Facebook last night that a minor girl had updated her status as- 'I am gonna to commit suicide today'. The child was located in 30 mins & her safety ensured. She & her family were counselled. She is safe and in their care. @CMOfficeAssam @IPS_Association pic.twitter.com/w4u3XxZY0a
— Assam Police (@assampolice) July 24, 2018
The girl, who was a minor, had posted a status update about ending her life on Facebook. And the social media platform’s headquarters sprung into action.
In November 2017, Facebook had rolled out a ‘proactive detection’ AI that would flag suicidal posts on their platform before they were even reported. It could’ve been the very same algorithm that flagged of the girl’s post as well. And that’s when Facebook HQ got in touch with Assam Police.
NDTV reports that Harmeet Singh, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of Assam said,
“Facebook had sent an alert to our nodal officer and he at once activated our social media centre and we were able to track the girl. Our field teams got activated and the family was traced.”
Within 30 minutes of being informed, the girl was traced and her safety ensured. She was even offered appropriate help.
The ADGP further elaborated,
“We counselled the girl and the guardian. The girl is safe and sound. This has been a great success of our social media initiative.”
The Assam Police has set up a social media centre to prevent such and similar incidents from happening and looks like they’ve been doing their jobs quite well.
Kudos to everyone involved in this successful mission of saving a life. And while the authorities keep their eyes open, it is also our duty to do the same, and keep a watch for any such cries of help. It could mean the difference between life and death.