School bullying gone viral: Wave of teenage suicides forces reckoning in France
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Play - 44:10
There's no need to look as far as Russian troll farms for disinformation and smear campaigns. Too often, it starts at our local schoolyard and ends with tragic consequences. The French are grappling with yet another teen suicide at the start of this school year. Bullying and hazing are as old as humanity. But to many, it feels like there is a post-pandemic epidemic. Is that perception or reality?
And what is being done about it? We review new measures unveiled by the French government and shock moves like the deployment of last week of police to a Paris-area classroom to cuff a suspected teen offender.
Read moreFrench parents want to take TikTok to court following daughter's suicide
We also ask how educators and authorities are coping elsewhere, in a world where the bullying is now broadcast at the speed of light over social media. What should regulators do to stop the publication of poison? How do pupils themselves cope between the digital world and its real-life consequences?
Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.
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