Bini Dahal

In an era where everybody knows everyone in a superficial manner (through social media), we rarely are aware of what may be going through a person’s mind. He or she may seem happy outside, but from within certain concerns may be plaguing him or her. Such is the complexity of the human heart and mind!
This is the reason why many people feel comfortable to share their thoughts online, as it is anonymous and speaking to strangers can make them feel motivated or at least make them feel that their problem is smaller than that of others.
Yet, social media is a scary place to be in. Trying to gain support from strangers through social media can be a harmful experience for most people as well. In 2017, a 30-year-old man, Takahiro Shiraishi, was arrested after several bodies were found in his flat. Dubbed as the ‘Twitter Killer’, he had murdered and dismembered eight young women whom he met through Twitter.
Media reports show that the ninth victim was a young man who was a friend of one of those women killed, and he wanted to know about her whereabouts. All of the women who were in contact with Takahiro were suicidal in nature. And he had lured them saying he could help them kill themselves. And in some cases, he had even said that he would kill himself along with them. All of the murders and dismembering were committed between August and October of 2017.
While searching for a 23-year-old woman who had gone missing, the police came across dismembered body parts in Shiraishi’s flat in Zama City near Tokyo. Later, the police came to know that the woman was one of the victims. The police team happened to know about the location from the victim’s brother who had assessed her Twitter account and informed the security personnel about a suspicious account which led to the “Twitter killer’s” residence in the morning of October 31, 2017.
The investigators found nine heads along with a large number of arms and leg bones in coolers and tool boxes. After discovering such a gruesome murder, prosecutors sought death penalty for Shiraishi. But his lawyers defended him saying that the whole murder was done with the consent of the victims. And now the murderer has changed his own defence team’s version of events and stated that he was the one who killed all of the victims without their consent. In fact, the victims had not consented to be killed.
Japan is one of the world's industrialised nations with the highest suicide rates. In a situation like this, it is very important to ensure that people do not have any suicidal thought. The gruesome mass murder has now triggered the Japanese government to consider introducing new regulations concerning suicide and social media. Twitter has also amended its rules in the wake of this horrible incident. Similarly, the social media site has asked users not to promote or encourage suicide or self-harm.
While social media has been made for the sole purpose of connecting and networking, it has also been a dangerous place when it comes to safety of youths. Learning from this murder, all the social media networks should immediately come up with better amendments to ensure that no untoward incidences take place now onwards because of them.