The operators of a pro-suicide website forum linked to dozens of deaths around the world said they have nothing but disdain for attempts by Canadian lawmakers to introduce new safety standards to protect children.
“Don’t care about Canadian law,” the operators of the website wrote to CTV News Toronto in a text message, along with an instruction not to message them again, when reached for comment on proposed changes to Canada’s Online Harms Act.
The proposed changes would restrict some websites from providing minors with content that could encourage them to harm themselves – but wouldn’t be able to block a website entirely.
The website, which CTV News is not naming, operates as a forum for users to swap tips on how to end their lives. It solicits donations in cryptocurrency.
It was a site that Gary Cooper frequented in the months before his suicide in 2022, his brother Gary believes.
“It’s devastating what it does to you,” Cooper said from Liverpool, U.K., saying he thinks that website was what linked his brother with a Canadian seller of a deadly but legal meat curing agent he used to end his life.
“Rather than trying to get them support and find a way out for them, they are basically telling them to surrender and then selling them the stuff to do it,” Cooper said.
Gerald Cohn, of Illinois, lost his brother Benji to suicide in 2023. In the months after his death, he found the website, which he described as a “dark, dark community,” on his brother’s phone.
“It just can’t be that easy,” Cohn, 38, told CTV News Toronto in an interview in March. “All he had to do was go to one website, and it was so easy to access.”
Benji (Centre) and Gerald (left) Cohn can be seen alongside their mother (right) in a photo provided by the family.
Some of the suicide tips on the forum came from an account called “Greenberg,” whose avatar picture is a white puppy. It advocated certain suicide methods including ones sold by companies police have said were run by Mississauga resident Kenneth Law.
Law is accused of sending some 1,200 packages to 40 countries. A tally by CTV News suggests that 128 deaths may be connected to the products listed on his sites.
Law is facing 14 counts of first-degree murder in Ontario. Police have said the youngest person to die by suicide in that group is 16 years old. Outside of a Newmarket courtroom earlier this month, his lawyers said he intends to plead not guilty.
“There are novel aspects to this case and we look forward to litigating them,” defence counsel Matthew Gourlay said.
In 2021, a New York Times investigation found the pro-suicide website had six million page views a month. The investigation, which tracked down 45 dead users, linked the site to two men in Uruguay and Alabama, Diego Galante and Lamarcus Small, though the pair have since said they no longer run it.
Last year, the BBC tracked Small down outside his home in Huntsville, Alabama, but he didn’t answer questions about his operations.
That website may be impacted by the proposed Online Harms Act, which Canada’s Heritage Ministry says would introduce standards for registered social media sites that meet a set of criteria.
Among the standards is a prohibition of content that encourages young people to harm themselves. The punishment could include a fine of “eight per cent of the operator’s gross global revenue, or $25 million, whichever is greater.”
But if a website chooses to ignore the Canadian rules, they might be able to continue operating from outside the country – a major concern, said NDP MP Peter Julian.
“It preys on vulnerable people,” Julian said. “Canada is not taking these seriously. Canada is not putting in place the tools so that these companies are held liable.
“It is something that the government has to take seriously in Canada. Other countries have. They’ve banned the practice and put in place the tools to stop this self-harm from going through people’s computers.”
A ministry spokesperson confirmed, “There’s no measure in the proposed law that would allow Canada to simply block a violator website from being accessible in Canada.”
Other countries including the U.K., Germany, Italy and Australia do have such capabilities and have used it with varying success on the pro-suicide website.
Cooper said there’s an urgent need to act to prevent the website from being accessible instead of routing people to mental health services that could help them.
“Not next month. Not next year,” he said. “This needs to be stopped now. Every day that passes is a missed opportunity and could lead to someone else losing their life.”
