Bosses Of Ask.Fm Pledge To Hand Over Names Of Trolls Who Drove Hannah Smith To Suicide

Bosses Of Ask.Fm Pledge To Hand Over Names Of Trolls Who Drove Hannah Smith To Suicide
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Bosses of Ask.fm, the website linked to the death of 14-year-old Hannah Smith, have offered to name the trolls who drove her to kill herself.

Hannah was found hanged in her bedroom, in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, last Friday after suffering months of abuse from trolls on the site, which is popular with teenagers. Bullies repeatedly urged her to kill herself, cut herself and 'drink bleach'. Now founders Mark and Ilja Terebin have promised to hand over details of her abusers after Prime Minister David Cameron urged parents, teenagers and advertisers to boycott the site.

In an open letter they wrote: "Although it is possible to post anonymously to the site, we would like to reassure parents that in almost all cases it is possible for Ask.fm to identify users – through IP technology, everything on the internet is traceable – and in extreme circumstances such as those we've experienced this week we work through existing legal frameworks to ensure this information is accessible to the appropriate legal authorities."

The open letter came hours after the Prime Minister urged the Terebins, and those running similar sites, to 'step up to the plate and show some responsibility'.

Mr Cameron also urged parents and teenagers to avoid using the 'vile' websites.

He told Sky News: "Just because someone does something online, it doesn't mean they're above the law. If you incite someone to do harm, if you incite violence, that is breaking the law, whether that is online or offline.

"Also, there's something all of us can do as parents and as users of the internet and that is not to use some of these vile sites. Boycott them, don't go there, don't join them – we need to do that as well."