Suicide forum linked to 50 deaths fined £950,000 for not blocking UK users

A pro-suicide online forum which has been linked to at least 50 deaths has been fined £950,000 by the UK's media regulator.

Ofcom said the site did not comply with the Online Safety Act (OSA) "to protect people in the UK from illegal content".

Ofcom Director of Enforcement Suzanne Cater said the forum had made some attempts to block UK users but this was "not good enough and the changes they've made were not consistently applied or effective to reduce the risk of harm".

But Ofcom has been criticised for taking too long to take action with the Molly Rose Foundation saying: "It is appalling that it has been left to bereaved families and campaign groups to press Ofcom into action."

The online safety charity's chief executive Andy Burrows added it had "submitted detailed evidence which showed scores of vulnerable young people remained at risk while Ofcom's investigation dragged on.

"Further lives were lost during this period".

Ofcom said it understood the urgency and the anger felt by those who had been personally affected.

"It is vital that we ensure our enforcement action is thorough, and this can take time, as is the case for any enforcement agency," a spokesperson told BBC News.

It is a criminal offence in the UK to intentionally encourage or assist suicide, and the OSA requires chatroom providers to mitigate the risks of UK users seeing this type of content on their platforms.

Ofcom said the site was accessible by people in the UK without the use of a VPN, which is a common way of getting around blocks in one country.

The regulator added it had spoken to people with "personal knowledge of the forum" and thanked them for engaging with the investigation.

Its investigation ran from March 2025 to April 2026 and was the first of its type under the OSA.

Ofcom said it had "engaged extensively" with the forum provider throughout.

BBC News investigations into the forum found young people who had been on the site had been encouraged to and given instructions on how to kill themselves.

The BBC and Ofcom chose not to name the website.

Vlad Nikolin-Caisley, 17, and Aimee Walton, 21, both from Southampton, died after using the online pro-suicide chat room.

Their families had called on Ofcom to act.

After the fine was announced, Aimee's sister Adele Zeynep Walton said families like hers had been "agonisingly waiting for action against the website that took our loved ones".

In a statement on behalf of Families and Survivors to Prevent Online Suicide Harms, Walton added: "We feel let down by the process and Ofcom's slow response to this threat to life."