Media Regulation and the InternetPRO Self harming websites

Defining the issue…

Self harming is a mental illness that can eventually escalate into an addiction. Over the last decade, young people in particular have been using the internet and

social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo, YouTube and MySpace to talk about their problems and post

alarming pictures/videos of their self inflicted injuries.

How this can lead to harm…

This mental illness can eventually escalate into an addiction and due to these websites that are encouraging young people to self harm, it could happen much sooner

than first expected.

Stories and statistics…

Here are some stories and statistics that we have found around the topic of self harm on the internet…

Regulation linked to the websites…

Earlier this year, the blogging website Tumblr decided that it was to change its policy and ban any content which supports self harming/mutilation. The statement said Tumblr would be implementing a new content policy "in the very near future" which would prohibit content "that actively promotes or glorifies self-injury or self-harm".

Tumblr said it "strongly opposed" self-harm blogs, but had been faced with a dilemma until now

How can it be regulated better?

If this issue was to be regulated better it would be very hard and near enough impossible because there is so much new content being

uploaded every second.