Ask.fm: This week a 15-year-old boy killed himself after being hounded on it. No wonder mothers want it banned | Daily Mail Online
Is your child using the sinister website that pits friend against friend? This week a 15-year-old boy killed himself after being hounded on it. No wonder mothers want it banned...
00:59 BST, 13 April 2013
14:09 BST, 13 April 2013
When she looked at her teenage daughter’s laptop, it was almost impossible for Caroline Quinn to believe that the vicious words on the screen had been written about her child.‘Slut’ and ‘anorexic freak’ were some of the choice words and phrases which had been posted on 13-year-old Laura’s social networking page. Another message, posted in response to a photograph of Laura at a friend’s birthday party, spat the vitriol: ‘Put some clothes on. I don’t wanna see your slutty face on my computer.’ The website, as 40-year-old Caroline learned, was ask.fm — a notorious question-and-answer social networking site that has enjoyed an explosion in popularity among young British teenagers in the past year. Unlike sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it has no privacy settings and so allows users — naive, gullible youngsters with more curiosity than sense — to pose questions to each other anonymously.While many questions relate to nothing more disturbing than favourite pop groups, increasingly, the Latvian-run site — with more than 40 million users worldwide — has become a haven for school bullies, targeting victims online without fear of being discovered.
Attacked online: Laura Quinn was targeted no the anonymous site, and her mother Caroline was shocked by the hateful comments she saw
Most of the victims actually know their tormentors — usually disgruntled classmates who are often ‘friends’ with their victims on other sites such as Facebook but reveal a more sinister side when on ask.fm, where they have the option to hide their identity. Bullied youngsters are left agonised, not knowing which of their friends has turned against them.The site also allows users to put up video answers, meaning their identities can be revealed. For the past few months, children’s charities, child safety experts and education chiefs have been warning about the dangers of the site. But the suicide last week of Joshua Unsworth has made their concerns more urgent than ever. Joshua, 15, took his own life after months of abusive messages on ask.fm. The schoolboy was found hanged in the garden of his family’s stone-built converted farmhouse in a Lancashire village. The vicious messages posted on his
page included: ‘You really are a freak’, ‘no one likes you’ and ‘you deserve sick things to happen to you’. In all, the site has now been linked to six suicides.
Joshua Unsworth, 15, was found hanged after allegedly being bullied
For company director Caroline, seeing her privately educated daughter’s ask.fm site was a shocking wake-up call. ‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,’ she says. ‘The fact that somebody had launched such a disgusting attack on my lovely daughter felt like a violation I had been unable to protect her from.’ Like many parents, Caroline was unaware of ask.fm until she accidentally stumbled on Laura’s account, linked to her Facebook page. ‘I like to keep tabs on Laura’s online activity,’ Caroline says. ‘I’m a friend of hers on Facebook but this isn’t always enough to see everything going on. She accuses me of stalking her online, but it’s becoming harder to stay on top of it all ... I immediately told her to close the account down and have nothing more to do with it.’Laura set up her ask.fm account last November. ‘Everyone was doing it and I thought it would be fun,’ she says. ‘First of all, the questions were harmless things like “who are your best friends?” but it got out of hand after my friend’s birthday party.‘My friends and I dressed up — I was
wearing hotpants, a red top and trainers — and my friend posted pictures
of us on Facebook. People said we looked like sluts and prostitutes.
The comments were targeted at all of us, but I’m quite skinny so people
called me anorexic. It was horrible.’
Her mother says: ‘I think it is
despicable that this site holds no responsibility for the harm it is
causing.’ Caroline also admits that the worst part for Laura was not
knowing who had made the comments about her, but being aware they must
have come from her inner circle. ‘It was very isolating for her.’ That was certainly the experience of
Joshua Unsworth. The anonymous messages posted on his page are beyond
belief. They called him a ‘f****** n**head’ and added: ‘Your (sic) just
like a dog. No one likes you. Honestly no one cares for you even your
parents don’t want you, there (sic) gunna put you in care.’
This week, the Mail was contacted by a
mother who caught her 14-year-old daughter taking an overdose after
being bullied on ask.fm. In one of the final messages sent to her before
her suicide attempt last October, one tormentor wrote: ‘Dribk (sic)
bleach, drownd (sic) your self, hang your self, cut your throat open,
nobody wats (sic) you hear (sic) at all, just die.’ If that message
wasn’t clear, another followed: ‘Please die.’
Anyone still in any doubt about the
widespread grief that ask.fm is causing a generation of British children
need only pay a visit to YouTube. There, hundreds of British teenagers
have posted video clips of themselves bewailing how they have received
‘anonymous hate’ via the website.
Pouring her heart out on camera last
month, one desperate girl says: ‘Within two hours, I had people telling
me to kill myself... Someone needs to say something. ’
Anonymous messages posted on the teenager's page are beyond belief. Spiteful users called him a 'f****** n**head' and wrote abusive insultsThe brainchild of Russian internet entrepreneurs, and brothers, Ilya and Mark Terebin, ask.fm is run from the company’s headquarters in Latvia’s capital Riga, where they grew up. Modelling itself on the U.S. question-and-answer website ‘Formspring’, the site rapidly expanded. Last November, it had 21 million users. This figure has nearly doubled in the past five months and the site is available in 31 languages. The website makes its money from advertising — as well as allowing companies to pay for questions which can be targeted at users. Advertising revenue is around ?16,000 a day and most of the adverts are targeted depending on the user’s age and location. Companies which feature on ask.fm’s pages include industry giants such as Nespresso and clothing company Isme.Children must be at least 13 years old to sign up to the site, but there’s nothing to stop them lying when registering — which takes seconds. The site asks only for a name, email address and date of birth. Most sign up via their Facebook pages, automatically notifying their ‘Facebook friends’ that they’ve joined ask.fm.Governed by Latvian law, the site’s ‘terms of service’ include an extensive disclaimer which explains: ‘The ask.fm service allows for anonymous content which ask.fm does not monitor. You agree to use the ask.fm service at your own risk and that ask.fm shall have no liability to you for content that you may find objectionable, obscene or in poor taste.’ Even before Joshua’s suicide, the controversial site had been linked to the deaths of five teenagers worldwide, including three from Ireland — two of whom were sisters.In September last year Ciara Pugsley, 15, from County Leitrim, Ireland, was found dead near her home in Killargue, Co. Leitrim after reportedly suffering abuse on ask.fm. Her father Jonathan described the website as ‘extremely sinister’.
The website's creators have refused to take responsibility for the kind of vicious behaviour that has become prevalent on their own cyber doorstep
Erin Gallagher, 13, after alleged bullying on ask.fm, took her own life in October last year. Tragically, just two months later, her grief-stricken sister Shannon, 15, although there is no suggestion she was targeted on the website.To date, the Terebins, the sons of a wealthy former Soviet Red Army serviceman, have refused to take responsibility for the kind of vicious behaviour that has become prevalent on their own cyber doorstep. The pair, who both graduated from the Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration, began their careers setting up a furniture business, but swiftly realised that the internet boom offered them a more lucrative path.Disturbingly, both spout homophobic and pro-Stalinist views on their ask.fm page. In response to the question, ‘how do you feel about gays’, Mark, 27, replies in Russian: ‘These fools are waiting for tolerance. There’s no point in waiting’.Meanwhile, his 34-year-old brother, who calls for a return to article 121 of Stalin’s criminal code which outlawed homosexuality, writes: ‘I wouldn’t lie next to a homosexual, even in the morgue.’The brothers ignored requests for an interview with the Mail this week but in a statement Mark Terebin gave to Ireland’s broadcaster RTE last October, he appeared to suggest that British children were to blame for the recent tragedies.‘We have only this situation in Ireland and the UK most of all,’ he said. ‘It seems that children are more cruel in these countries.’A month later, when one of his own ask.fm users asked why he wouldn’t comment on the suicides, he wrote back: ‘It’s not about the site, the problem is about education, about moral values that were devaluated lately. Ask.fm is just a tool which helps people to communicate with each other, same as any other social network, same as phone, same as piece of paper and pen.’
Unlike Facebook, the website does not demand users to declare their identities - meaning bullies can post whatever they like
British anti-bullying agencies take a different stance. ‘Young people are encouraged to say things they would not say face-to-face or if they were named. Until more is done to prevent this, we should be concerned by their use,’ says Emma-Jane Cross, founder and chief executive of the charity BeatBullying.While refusing to admit their site presents a threat to youngsters, in recent weeks, ask.fm has introduced a ‘report’ button, enabling users to notify the site of abuse they receive. But they’ve refused to disable the ‘anonymous’ function which experts say lies at the heart of the problem.It seems that if the site is not prepared to protect the children that use it, then parents must be extra vigilant to keep them safe. But in a world where technology evolves at breakneck speed, monitoring teenagers’ activity on social networking sites is no easy task.As Laura’s mother Caroline puts it: ‘Before it was the playground, then email, now it’s becoming almost impossible to protect our children from abuse because it creeps into their lives from a barrage of social media. You think, when your daughter is 13, you won’t have to watch her like a hawk anymore. But it’s a more full time job now than ever.’
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EDITOR'S SIX OF THE BESTHamish Blake and Andy Lee prepare to make Play School debut | Daily Mail Online
There's a bear in there! Hamish Blake and Andy Lee share the screen with Little Ted as they prepare to make Play School debut
02:27 BST, 4 March 2016
07:11 BST, 4 March 2016
Play School is sure to get an unexpected ratings boost later this year with comedy duo Hamish Blake and Andy Lee set to make their debut on the long-running children's program.The pair offered fans a behind the scenes look at their time on set - and interesting choice of storyline
- in a sneak peek video posted to
on Friday.Wearing Hawaiian shirts that perfectly match the tropical backdrop for the scene, the pair are seen skipping around with the show's veteran star Little Ted, as they work out what can be done about a bucket with a hole in it. Scroll down for video
There's a bear in there: Radio stars Hamish and Andy are making their Play School debut later this year and took to social media to share a sneak peek of the episode In the video, Andy can be heard singing 'there's a hole in my bucket' while Hamish lounges on a beach chair
and drinks out of a pineapple with Little Ted by his side.
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The funny clip also looks at their time away from the set and features them both in the make-up chair arguing over who has the lead role.Andy is heard saying: 'I'm very much the protagonist here, it's my bucket, I've got a hole in it, he's just a by-stander'.
Tropical setting: During the video posted to their social media, Andy can be heard singing 'There's a hole in my bucket'
On set: The Play School episode featuring Hamish and Andy is due to air later this year'I think in hierarchy for the scene it goes - myself, Little Ted, the bucket, Hamish'.Meanwhile Hamish jokingly retaliates: 'Can't fix a bucket and Ham has to come in and solve it...''It's a true story, it's based on a true story where he couldn't fix a bucket for ages, glad that horrible day at the beach I spent with him can be used in an educational sense for children'.
Friendly banter: Hamish tells the make-up artist it will be him who will fix the holey bucket and not comedy partner Andy
Joking around: Andy has other ideas thought declaring he intends to fix the bucket himself, without the help of Hamish, during the episode The pair continue the friendly banter throughout the rest of video with Andy telling the camera: 'Sure he has a couple of theories on how to fix the bucket, but spoiler alert it doesn't get fixed.' Meanwhile Hamish makes light of his comedy partner's singing abilities saying: 'I just hope Andy remembers its about teaching kids about fixing buckets and not showing off how good you can sing'.The Play School episode featuring Hamish and Andy is due to air later this year.
Hanging around: Little Ted also made an appearance in the video
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MORE DON'T MISSCanoe man John Darwin describes how easy it was to fake his own death for life insurance payout | Daily Mail Online
‘Faking your own death is easy… but coming back is hard!’
Canoe man John Darwin boasts of how he walked around home town disguised as an old man
Insurance fraudster was 'under extreme stress' when he committed ?680,000 deceptionWalked past his father and brother in the street but they did not recognise him
14:13 BST, 9 December 2011
'Setting the record straight': John Darwin described how he dressed as an old man to fool neighbours as he worked outside his home after faking his death
The father who faked his own death in a canoeing accident before fleeing to Panama with the proceeds of his life insurance payout today revealed how easy the fraud was to commit.John Darwin told how he would carry out DIY on the front of the home he shared with wife Anne and even walked around Seaton Carew near Hartlepool disguised as an old man when he was thought to be dead.He spoke about how he deceived his sons to carry out the ?680,000 fraud, but claimed he was 'under stress' when he decided to carry out the crime.'It is very, very easy to fake your own death and get away with it but returning from the dead is not so easy,' he said.Giving his first radio interview since he was released from his six-year prison sentence for the deception, Darwin said he was able to remain undetected for years because he stuck to his plan of changing his appearance immediately.He told BBC Radio Five Live: 'I enacted the whole system in my head. What I would do. Where I would go. How I would look.
'Most people are caught because they look exactly the same as when they committed the crime.
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'Part of my plan was to change my
appearance almost immediately. It was fool-proof. I wasn't caught, I
came back (from Panama to face justice).'
In March 2002, Darwin 'disappeared' in his canoe in the sea outside his seafront home in County Durham in March 2002. He spent five years living in Panama under the identity
stolen from dead baby John Jones.
Complicit: Anne Darwin was also jailed for more six years for her part in the audacious fraud
In 2007 he returned from Panama
and walked into a police station in
London, claiming to have no memory of the past five years.
His lies were quickly uncovered after pictures were found on the
internet of him and his wife Anne posing for a photograph in the office
of an estate agency in Panama City.
Change of appearance: How John Darwin looked after faking his death
He was released from Moorland Open
Prison, South Yorkshire, halfway through his six years and three month
jail sentence earlier this year.Speaking to presenter Victoria Derbyshire in a bid to 'set the record straight' because of 'Press lies', Darwin said: 'I did grow a beard. I didn't think I would be caught because I changed my appearance dramatically. 'I had a stick, I had a limp, I had a stoop. I looked like any old man so nobody recognised me.' He boasted how he painted the outside of the 18-bedroom house he shared with wife Anne, who was also jailed for more than six years and released this year. The pair are not reconciled.He also said he walked past his brother and father in the street while out walking, but they did not recognise him.'Neighbours and everyone else came to
know me as the workman,' he said, as he denied only living in a single
room in the house, instead sleeping with his wife in the master bedroom.He
added: 'It was extremely stressful for both of us. You never knew for
certain. I was 99 per cent certain I would never get caught but there
was a one per cent chance something would go wrong.'Asked if he regretted his actions, he said: 'I shouldn't have done the crime and I shouldn't have come back (from Panama).'Asked
how he could put his two sons through the pain of thinking he had died,
he said: 'When I committed the crime i was not in my right mind. I
wasn't thinking straight. I was under a lot of stress, i wasn't thinking
rationally.
Home: The former guesthouse in Seaton Carew where John Darwin
lived with his wife'They had moved away, they were adults. We had lost contact, they were writing infrequently and making contact infrequently. 'They had their own lives to lead. You put in your own mind that they don't care.'I lessened the effect it would have on everyone. Once the crime was committed it was too late.'He said he could not tell the men because they would have become accessories to the crime and said he is now back in contact with his sons but says he is 'on probation' with them.'If I embarrass them, if the Press come round to their houses they will have nothing to do with me.'He denied he had money stashed in Panama or that his sons were complicit in the scam and said he could not receive money for the BBC interview.Accused of not showing remorse, he added: 'I do owe ?700,000 to the court for the rest of my life. I didn't ask to appear on here I was invited.'Do I sit in the corner or do I say live on radio that I'm sorry? If you don't believe it, you don't believe it.'
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EDITOR'S SIX OF THE BEST}