Cyberbullying: Teen Queer Artist Dies By Suicide After Hate Comments On ‘Saree Reel’

New Delhi: A 16-year-old queer artist from Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain could not bear the hate comments following an Instagram reel he posted in which he wore a saree. The thousands of hate comments led him to resort to suicide, claimed an actor.

Pranshu, a 16-year-old queer artist from Ujjain, was a self-taught makeup artist from Ujjain and ran an Instagram handle where they posted makeup and beauty content. On Diwali, the 16-year-old posted an Instagram transition reel in a saree, NDTV reported. ‘Made In Heaven’ web series actor Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju claimed the artist’s comment section was flooded with over 4,000 homophobic remarks which abetted them to die by suicide. The artist had over 16,500 followers on their Instagram handle, ‘glamitupwithpranshu’.

Actor Trinetra said online platforms like Meta-owned Instagram, have repeatedly failed to provide a safe space to people from the LGBTQ community and claimed that #JusticeForPranshu “has no posts because some violate community guidelines”.

Several members from the LGBTQ community expressed grief and called out platforms like Instagram, X, and Facebook as inadequate to tackle cyberbullying.

The Nagjhiri police station in-charge, KS Gehlot, was quoted as saying that the exact reason behind the suicide is yet to be ascertained and an investigation is on in the matter, the Free Press Journal reported.

Arthur Bejar, a former Meta executive who quit the organisation in 2021, claimed that Instagram is “fundamentally misleading” the public about the safety of its platform for teens. Bejar testified to US Senators earlier this month and said Instagram is “categorically not” appropriate for children as young as 13, the report added.

“I had first-hand experience of them ignoring what can be described as statistically significant research,” which suggested millions of teenagers were experiencing safety issues while using Meta’s apps, he said