

After news of their suicide, one user posted, "This loser better have an after party where his family dances over his corpse."Įxperts say more research is needed to understand bullying and victimization online.Īpril Foreman, a clinical psychologist and board member at the American Association of Suicidology, said people who engage in trolling and harassment are also a population at high risk for suicide themselves. USA TODAY found a number of posts on Kiwi Farms attacking Ginder and calling them derogatory slurs. Hector Martin, a friend of Ginder's, said Ginder was repeatedly harassed by Kiwi Farms' users on and off the forum, sometimes with comments "along the lines of 'kill yourself,'" though Martin said Ginder was most disturbed by what they claimed were Kiwi Farms' attempts to suicide bait one of their friends. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. They certainly contributed to (Ginder's) death. "I just want them to appreciate the gravity of what they've done. "I'm very very angry – furious with Kiwi Farms," Beckett told USA TODAY. TikTok influencers have spoken out about rampant harassment on the platform, and one creator told BuzzFeed they were told to "commit suicide." Stodden said Teigen would "publicly tweet about wanting me to take 'a dirt nap' but would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself."ĭuring the pandemic, health care workers tasked with communicating COVID-19 health precautions have been the target of online harassment to the point of driving some out of the workforce.

Media personality Courtney Stodden said in May that she was harassed on Twitter by Chrissy Teigen. Mainstream media platforms also have a problem with online harassment. In 2018, a transgender woman died by suicide in Portland, and friends told The Oregonian the victim, Chloe Sagal, was harassed by Kiwi Farms users. This isn't the first time Kiwi Farms has been accused of playing a role in a person's suicide. Ginder wrote in their Twitter thread on June 26 that "every few months, it's something new. "When these cultures are weaponized by certain actors to target specific people through doxxing or other methods it can be especially alienating and traumatic for those affected people who once considered the online space a safe area for them." "Toxic online cultures seek to alienate or 'other' certain communities while maintaining exclusivity for the people that gravitate towards them," said Beau Pinkham, chair of the American Association of Suicidology's Tech and Innovations Committee. Beckett said the company offered to help Ginder, but they said they were handling it. Beckett said Ginder, who identified as nonbinary, shared that they were having trouble with bullying online, though didn't explicitly name Kiwi Farms.

#Near creator bsnes emulators has died full
Wayne Beckett, founder of Hong-Kong-based Datapower Development, said Near, whose full name was David Kirk Ginder, was an employee and confirmed Ginder's death to USA TODAY. Kiwi Farms bills itself as a "community dedicated to discussing eccentric people," though researchers who study extremist communities say it's notorious for degrading and harassing its targets – often those they perceive as deviant and many of whom struggle with existing mental health issues. The thread was shared more than a thousand times and lit up the gaming scene after reports that Near later died by suicide. A renowned developer who used the pseudonym Near/Byuu last month posted a Twitter thread excoriating the online forum Kiwi Farms for intense bullying and implied they were going to kill themselves.
