Advertisement

  1. National

Bullied girl's dad backs Ask.fm

The father of Hannah Smith, who committed suicide after being bullied on the Ask.fm website, has described the site's new cybersafety measures as "a good thing". But child protection charities said more needs to be done to stop online bullying.

View all 70 updates ›

Social networking site Hannah used 'popular with teens'

The website that Hannah Smith, 14, was using shortly before she died is called Ask.fm.

Launched in 2010, the social networking site invites users to pose questions which other users can respond to - often anonymously or with pictures and videos.

The login page of Ask.fm Credit: Ask.fm

Joining the website takes only a few clicks and users only have to provide a name, email address and date of birth.

According to the technology website CNET, the site has some 60 million users of which half are under the age of 18 and a portion under the age of 13.

It reports that teenagers see the platform as "fun and dangerous" because of the option of staying anonymous and the common use of profanities.

More on this story