Responding to online activity around suicide and self-harm

You may become aware of online activity around suicide and self-harm that worries you. This page helps you understand when you need to do something and what actions are safe and appropriate to take.

When should I respond to online activity around suicide and self-harm?

Not all online activity around suicide and self-harm is harmful. It can be an important source of support.

However there are times when you may need to respond to worrying online activity that you've seen, such as content that:

suggests someone online is in immediate danger
puts other people at significant risk – this usually includes information about methods of harm and direct encouragement for people to harm themselves
gives you a reason to think that it might cause social contagion or copycat behaviour.

When someone online is in immediate danger

When you see online activity that suggests someone is in immediate danger you should:

tell the emergency services, if you can provide any information about the identity or location of the person
report the content to the platform so that they can escalate the situation to emergency services and send supportive resources to the individual posting the content;
follow your organisation’s safeguarding procedures.

Examples of online activity you may need to respond to

A local incident relating to self-harm or suicide is attracting attention online and there are concerns around contagion or copycat behaviour.
Harmful content circulating online, such as challenges encouraging people to harm themselves.
You are responding to a suicide cluster that may have been linked to online use.
Some people are connecting in private online groups that seem to be promoting self-harm.
Other similar situations.

How should I respond to the online activity?

Get advice

We recommend that you do not respond to harmful online content relating to suicide and self-harm alone. You should get advice on what response is appropriate, and get support when taking action.

The process of reporting content can be upsetting and frustrating. Having support can help, especially if you feel like you aren’t getting the results you want.

Speak to your organisation or local/regional groups

You’re best placed to know where to go for advice and support when faced with a challenging situation at work. You may get help from:

your manager
a suicide prevention lead at local or regional level
a multi-disciplinary action group
other local groups including safeguarding boards, educational facilities or other agencies depending on the situation.

Some groups may have a checklist or protocol for you to follow to help you decide which actions to take in response to harmful online activity. Others may not yet have formal procedures, but can still be a good place to get advice.

Use Samaritans' Online Harms Advisory Service

Our Online Harms Advisory Service can provide advice and support if you’re concerned about online activity around suicide and self-harm.

We can:

support you to make decisions
escalate worrying content to platforms
work with search engines to reduce the accessibility of harmful content online
work with government and other online safety organisations to respond to risks on both a local and national level
connect you with Samaritans’ media advisory service for advice and support if you’re concerned about potentially harmful media coverage.

It's also worth reporting the activity to us, as we may already be aware of the situation and be taking the necessary steps to minimise harm.

Decide if and how you should respond

When deciding what to do, you should consider:

How harmful is the content or interaction?
Who is being put at risk and what is your responsibility towards them?
Do you have an ongoing relationship with anyone involved in or related to the content and how will your actions affect that?
Are there any risks involved?

Some ways of responding to harmful content can put the individuals involved or other people at risk. You might inadvertently:

remove an important source of online support from people
draw extra attention to the harmful content
respond to something in a way that is disproportionate to its actual risk
damage relationships or break trust with people you who have reached out to you for help.

Report harmful content to the platform

The quickest way to respond to harmful online activity is to report it directly to the site or platform hosting it. Most platforms should have information about how to report content as well as the way they review these reports and decide whether to remove something.

If you need more help, you can follow the step-by-step guides to reporting on various platforms provided by the Reporting Harmful Content website.

Additional considerations for reporting content to certain platforms:

Smaller sites or groups discussing self-harm and suicide may be moderated by their members. This means that you’re more likely to be interacting with someone who’s experiencing suicidal thoughts and feelings themselves. They may find your contact distressing or feel it’s an invasion of their private space.
Some of the sites that host a lot of the more concerning content might be less welcoming of reports from individuals outside of their community. This is due to fears of being observed and their privacy being invaded.

If you’re ever worried about getting in touch with a site or platform, speak to the Online Harms Advisory Service first.

What happens after you make a report

What happens after you make a report can vary across sites and platforms, but often you’ll receive an acknowledgement and an update on what action was taken. Depending on the site or platform, this can take a few days.

If the content is illegal, or it breaks the community guidelines, it will usually be removed. If the content is not removed and you feel that the platform has made the wrong decision, there's usually a way to appeal.

As well as taking the content down, sometimes the site will get in touch with the person who posted it to explain why this happened. A few sites will offer them guidance on posting safely and available options for support. If the person has broken community guidelines before, they can sometimes receive suspensions or bans from posting.

Other safety measures you can put in place locally

When harmful online content is found you may want to take further steps to protect people in your area. This may include:

making sure other suicide prevention interventions are being used effectively
sharing general internet safety advice around suicide and self-harm.

You may want to coordinate your response with others in the local area. Who to involve will depend on the particular situation and context, it could include your local suicide prevention lead, or a local suicide prevention forum. You may also work with:

schools or educational institutions
police
safeguarding boards
charities and organisations specialising in self-harm and suicide.

Creating or working with multidisciplinary action groups can help you to coordinate a joined-up response.

Actions you could take

Ensure that any individuals involved are being given appropriate support.
Share general online safety advice, but be careful not to name or include details that would enable people to find the online activity that you’re worried about.
Assess whether any groups or communities may have been affected (such as a school, a geographic area, a particular demographic) and ways they can be supported safely (such as signposting to helplines or other support).
Establish if other groups are indirectly affected – such as parents – who may need extra support.
Safely report content and follow up with services who can help you with this such as the police or our Online Harms Advisory Service.
Consider if it's likely to be affecting other areas and if it needs to be dealt with on a national level.

Things to avoid when you’re worried about online activity

Don’t raise the profile of potentially harmful online material

When responding to harmful online content, think carefully about who you tell and how. Focus on communicating with a small team who can help you plan the response.

Avoid big email alerts, social media warnings or information posts about content as they can raise its profile and cause unnecessary panic.
Only share the content if it is absolutely necessary (for example if it’s required when making a report to a platform).
Don’t name challenges, sites or groups in any wide communications you do make.

Some online threats get a lot of attention even if they aren’t actually getting very high numbers of views. They’re often not affecting people in the way that the attention suggests they are. Focusing too much on big trends can mean missing individuals who need support.

For more specific information on the risks of sharing alerts about online suicide challenges and games, read our briefing.

Don’t try to remove all content

Remember that a lot of the content and activity around suicide and self-harm that you find worrying can be helpful for others.

Think carefully before trying to get something removed. You might remove an important source of comfort and support, or increase risk by driving online activity underground. This can push people further away from sources of help.

Avoid contacting individual users

Reaching out to individuals or group members who are posting or sharing this content is generally not advised if you don’t already know them. Often, they'll be vulnerable themselves. Contacting them as a stranger can be inappropriate and cause distress.

Can you help us improve our Guidance for Practitioners?

We’re evaluating the helpfulness of this guidance and would like to hear from you. Would you tell us about your experiences of using these resources? If so, please express your interest by clicking the link below.

Last reviewed 4th December 2022