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New Ask.fm owner vows to halt bullying or pull the plug

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By John Glenday, Reporter

August 20, 2014 | 2 min read

Ask.com, new owner of controversial social network Ask.fm, has said it will take measures to halt widespread bullying on the platform and will close the site down completely if these fail.

The drastic course of action was outlined following a number of high profile suicides linked to anonymous communications hosted by the site, which have already led to the withdrawal of key advertisers such as BT and Specsavers who are unwilling to associate themselves with the negative aspects of the site.

As such Ask.com has abandoned all moves toward profitability until their concerns and others have been addressed.

Ask.com chief executive Doug Leeds said he is desperate to ‘fix’ the troubled website in an effort to dispel its connotations with cyber bullying undertaken by anonymous users answersing questions posed by members.

One prominent case involved the suicide of 14-year-old Hannah Smith from Leicestershire whose death was attributed to a number of posts exhorting her to ‘drink bleach’ and ‘go die’ – although an inquest was later told that this abuse was authored by Smith herself.

Speaking to Pando Daily Leeds said; “We’re not going to run a bullying site. If we can’t [fix Ask.fm], we’ll shut it down.”

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