SINGAPORE: Campaigners have called for criminal sanctions against those grooming others on an online suicide forum, after the site was fined almost £1 million for failing to comply with the Online Safety Act.

Ofcom said the site, which was the first to be investigated under the legislation that came into force last year, was linked to more than 130 deaths in the UK and featured in multiple coroners’ reports.

It fined the forum £950,000 after finding that illegal content encouraging and assisting suicide had been consistently present on the platform between March 2025 and April 2026.

Campaigners, including those who have lost relatives to suicide, called for “criminal sanctions”, adding: “A fine alone is not enough.”

The forum, which The Times is not naming, was used by Kenneth Law, a poison seller, to promote his product. Law is charged with 14 counts of aiding suicide in Canada and linked to 112 UK deaths.

Ofcom said some material, including instructional guides and discussion threads detailing suicide methods, had been pinned or reposted by the forum provider itself.

The forum’s US-based operator disputed that it fell under UK jurisdiction, which raised questions over whether the fine could be enforced.

However, Ofcom said the site fell within the scope of the Online Safety Act because it was accessible in the UK and posed “a material risk of significant harm”. The forum provider has ten working days to comply with specific requirements or Ofcom said it would seek a court order requiring internet service providers to block the site in the UK.

Suzanne Cater, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said: “This is a significant fine on a suicide forum known for exploiting the most vulnerable in society.

“It’s caused unimaginable pain and suffering for bereaved families across the UK and beyond, and no punishment can undo that harm.

“The provider of this forum knows it’s used to share illegal content encouraging and assisting suicide on their site.”

The regulator is investigating nearly 100 sites and has issued 17 fines against seven companies — totalling nearly £5 million.

Adele Zeynep Walton, speaking on behalf of Families and Survivors to Prevent Online Suicide Harms, said: “Families like mine have been agonisingly waiting for action against the website that took our loved ones.

“While we’ve waited, further lives have been lost and we’ve had to fight every step. We feel let down by the process and Ofcom’s slow response to this threat to life. The continued existence of this site is a public health crisis, and a fine alone is not enough.

“We now want to see criminal sanctions against the sinister actors who actively groom, encourage and instruct British people to take their lives.”

Andy Burrows, chief executive of Molly Rose Foundation, said: “After 13 months of investigation we welcome that Ofcom has taken decisive steps to fine this appalling and deadly forum and will apply to block the site in the courts.

“However, this process has taken an interminable amount of time, and it is appalling that it has been left to bereaved families and campaign groups to press Ofcom into action.”