An actor claimed that a 16-year-old gay artist from Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, committed suicide after receiving thousands of hateful comments on an Instagram reel the artist had posted.
Self-taught makeup artist Pranshu, a 16-year-old queer artist from Ujjain, maintained an Instagram account with beauty and makeup-related content. The 16-year-old shared a saree-clad Instagram transition reel on Diwali.
Actor Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju of the web series “Made In Heaven” said that more than 4,000 homophobic comments flooded the artist’s comment section, encouraging them to commit suicide. The musician had more than 16,500 followers on their ‘glamitupwithpranshu’ Instagram account.
Actor Trinetra asserted that #JusticeForPranshu “has no posts because some violate community guidelines” and that Meta-owned social media sites like Instagram have consistently failed to offer a safe haven for members of the LGBTQ community.
A number of LGBTQ community members expressed their sorrow and criticized Facebook, Instagram, X, and other platforms for not doing enough to stop cyberbullying.
According to the Free Press Journal, KS Gehlot, the in-charge of the Nagjhiri police station, the precise cause of the suicide is still unknown and an investigation is underway.
Former Meta executive Arthur Bejar said that Instagram is “fundamentally misleading” the public about the safety of its teen platform. Bejar departed the company in 2021. In testimony given to US Senators earlier this month, Mr. Bejar stated that children as young as 13 should “categorically not” use Instagram.
He claimed, “I had first-hand experience of them ignoring what can be described as statistically significant research,” which indicated millions of teenagers were having security problems when using Meta’s apps.
