Facebook suicide prevention tools could debut in Hong Kong: prevention, intervention for young people at risk
Academic says service would be welcome in Facebook-saturated city, as Hong Kong’s suicide rate remains well above average
New Facebook tools to help people at risk of self-harm could soon come to Hong Kong, a city with one of the highest usages of the popular social media site per capita.
Hong Kong University Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention director Paul Yip said he had been in discussions with Facebook to bring the service to the city.
“We have talked to Facebook before. They said they’re going to launch it in Taiwan and they’d like to see how it goes there before they launch it here,” he said.
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Hong Kong’s suicide rate remains above average, with more than one person in every 10,000 expected to take their own life in a standard year.
The city has a higher suicide rate than Australia, where Facebook’s new tools were launched on December 3 - the service started in Taiwan in September this year.
Under the new system, if a relative or friend were concerned about a user’s post, they could report it to Facebook where it would then be vetted by a 24-hour team.
In Australia, Facebook has partnered with BeyondBlue, a large-scale national suicide prevention group, to provide support to users and better targets its tools.
Serious posts in which a person threatened self-harm or suicide would be prioritised, according to Facebook, with the users being sent resources to help them through notifications.
