French Periscope suicide stirs social media safety fears

France has opened an investigation into the suicide of a 19-year-old woman who broadcast her death on the video-streaming app, Periscope.

During the live stream the woman, who called herself Oceane, said she had been raped, before taking her own life on the tracks at Egly station 25 miles (40km) south of Paris.

Periscope, a popular social media app, has been used to chronicle unsuitable content before, including crimes and violence. Oceane's death has led to a fresh debate in France about how to regulate and protect young users of social media.

Woman 'live-streamed her suicide on Periscope'

It is a sad consequence that this young woman, who wanted her death witnessed by so many strangers, is now the subject of such intense scrutiny. Her phone examined by police; her last moments spooled back from video surveillance cameras at the scene; her story, her life, her remains pored over by investigators, politicians, journalists, and of course the social media audience she pulled into her own death.


[link to www.bbc.com]