A teenage girl took her own life after schoolboys bullied her over social media.

14-year-old Mia Janin was a year 10 student at the Jewish Free School in London, when she was found dead in her home. Her grieving father has said today “every day is hard” after also losing his wife who “couldn’t cope” four months after they lost their daughter. The relentless nature of cyberbullying impacted her mental health and the toxicity of the online attacks spilled over into her offline life which tragically led her to taking her own life in March 2021.

Statements from her friends found that Mia was cyberbullied by other pupils and that their friendship group was nicknamed the “suicide squad”.

One of Mia’s TikToks was shared across to a Snapchat group created by male students, where they made fun of her.

They said the boys also photoshopped girls’ faces onto the bodies of the pornography performers.

“They used girls faces on porn stars’ bodies to upset us,” one of her friends said.

The Definition of Cyberbullying

The escalation of cyberbullying has been associated with a rise in suicide rates among its victims. The anonymity afforded by online platforms give perpetrators the advantage to pursue vulnerable individuals, where they can intensify their attacks, pushing individuals to a breaking point.

The rise of cyberbullying and its tragic link to suicide is a pressing issue and the constant exposure to negative comments and online abuse acts as an aggressive force on an individual’s self-esteem. The digital attacks extend far beyond the confines of school, and into individual’s homes. The pervasive nature of online harassment creates an inescapable environment, leaving victims feeling relentlessly pursued even in their private spaces.