Facebook apologises for dating ad

Social media giant Facebook has apologised for publishing a dating ad photo of a 17-year-old who committed suicide after being cyber-bullied.

The mother of the Canadian youth held that the daughter's demise followed relentless cyber bullying. The youth was being bullied after a photo of her being raped by four boys appeared online. The incident happened in 2010 after the youth got drunk at a party and was attacked by four drunken youths. The woman explained how the youth was constantly pursued for sex by people she did not know, who claimed they were friends of the four who had raped her.

The photo was used in an advert for meeting singles. The Facebook administration explained that the ad was a gross violation of its policies and the company involved in the ad was banned and had its account permanently deleted. The company, ionechat.com has since disappeared from Internet searches.

Following the youth's death, the Nova Scotia government enacted a specialised police unit to investigate cyber bullying.