A teenager in France live-streamed her suicide on Periscope Tuesday, according to a new report. The woman, who was born in 1997, announced her plans to viewers before throwing herself in front of a train, the New York Timesreported. The video is no longer available on Periscope, but has been uploaded to YouTube with the suicide blacked out. Emergency workers can be heard finding the victim.
At one point, the woman says, “The video I am doing right now is not made to create the buzz but rather to make people react, to open the minds, and that’s it," according to a translation by the Times. Viewers made jokes like "We're waiting" and "I think it's fun."
Police, who have launched an investigation into her death, didn't confirm that the woman in the video was the one found on the train tracks.
Periscope's community guidelines prohibit "graphic content," including "depictions of child abuse, animal abuse, or bodily harm" or anything that is "intended to incite violence or includes a direct and specific threat of violence to others.” Several violations of these rules have occurred recently, including the live-streaming of a sexual assault, an attack in a nightclub last month, and a shooting in a strip club in February.
A Periscope spokesperson told Complex over email that the video has been reported and removed, adding that Twitter, which owns Periscope, got 5,560 requests from law enforcement regarding Twitter, Periscope, and Vine accounts during the second half of last year.
UPDATED May 12 8:45 a.m. ET: This story was updated to include a comment from Periscope.
