Rope adverts appear after Googling the word ‘suicide’

GOOGLE has been accused of profiting from suicidal people after The Sunday Telegraph found the search engine advertising rope in its results.

The adverts directed users to an Amazon page promoting low prices for rope in searches related to suicide. The findings were condemned by a charity set up in the name of Molly Russell.

The tech giant also faces calls from a woman who lost her brother last year, to provide stronger prompts to mental health services for vulnerable people.

Inappropriate adverts appeared on multiple occasions when terms connected to suicide were entered and also on YouTube, which is owned by Google.

The Molly Rose Foundation, set up after 14-year-old Molly Russell took her life in 2017 after viewing self-harm material online, said the adverts underlined an “urgent” need to pass the longawaited duty of care bill to hold tech giants accountable for harmful content.

A spokesman said: “We have seen social media platforms monetising misery and it is now YouTube and Google that have been discovered doing it.

“The unpoliced algorithms that drive these platforms can produce dreadful effects, which are online harms and can lead people further down the road to suicide. Self-regulation must end and proper considered government regulation needs to be introduced urgently.”

Meanwhile, Alice Hendy, who lost her brother Josh aged 21 to suicide in November, called on Google to provide more support and stronger interventions for vulnerable people.

Ms Hendy, 29, from Fareham, Hants, said it needed to steer people “forcefully” towards help services following the death of her brother.

Cybersecurity expert Ms Hendy developed Ripple, a software that prompts a fullscreen pop-up when searches related to suicide are made that leads directly to mental health helplines and chat message services.

She said it is important to present vulnerable searchers with a range of help options.

Rosie Luff, Public Policy Manager at Google UK, said she was “terribly saddened” to learn of Mr Hendy’s death and that the company had been in conversation with Ms Hendy and the Samaritans about the Ripple project.

She added: “People sometimes use the Web to find information or support in the hardest of circumstances, so we work closely with the Samaritans and show their phone number on search and YouTube to connect people who are depressed, suicidal or in distress.”