Shane Tusch, 48, from San Mateo, California was seemingly having a bad week, a week made worse after the implementation of Facebook's recently updated suicide prevention program and the post of an off-handed bit of frustration venting.



Tusch wrote a post threatening to hang himself from the Golden Gate Bridge after having some issues with financial institution, presumably one of Tusch's friends alerted police who then promptly arrested him, locking him up on a psych hold for 70 hours.

According to the BBC, Facebook extended its suicide prevention program in February, enabling concerned readers to flag up posts that indicate someone may be suicidal and get help from trained professionals.

Once alerted, Facebook contacts the potentially suicidal person the next time he or she logs on and offers ways to get help.

Or if Facebook thinks there is an "imminent threat" it may contact local police and ask them to carry out a "welfare check". But Tusch's experiment underscores the fact that it's hard to tell a hoax from the truth on social media.

Be careful what you post - some busybody, or worse someone who just doesn't like you may get you locked up for a simple joke.

Source: Engadget