Shane Tusch, 48, of San Mateo, Calif. was arrested by the police and ended up in a psychiatric ward for three days after posting a suicide hoax on Facebook.
The part-time electrician was curious of the effectiveness of the suicide prevention tool of the social networking site, so he decided to try it out. He posted in his Facebook account that he will be hanging himself at the Golden Gate Bridge. The post was seen by someone who immediately alerted the police to stop him, BBC News reported.
The suicide prevention tool is an initiative started by the social networking giant and Forefront to empower family members and friends of users to stop suicides. The reporter may be encouraged to message the suicidal poster, contact another Facebook friend about getting involved or even talk to a trained professional about handling the situation. Facebook will then review the post. If there is enough evidence that the person is in distress, then a series of screens will appear the next time the user logs on, offering suggestions for help. But in case of an "imminent threat," such as Tusch's case, the police will be involved for a "welfare check."
Now, Tusch is convinced that the tool works, and he isn't happy with the way it was implemented. He claimed that he was confined in a psychiatric ward for 70 hours, denied "any humane care," and underwent medical tests, according to BBC News.
"Facebook needs to leave suicide prevention to family and friends," he wrote on his Facebook page.
"There are no checks and balances! I was only proving a point that Facebook should not be involved in this. . . "
Tusch has reached out to Consumer Watchdog to share his experience. The lobby group, in turn, wrote a request letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to suspend the tool.
Facebook refused to comment on the news.
