In December 2016, a 12-year-old girl committed suicide in the front garden of her home in Georgia, USA, as an audience watched online. During the 40 minute broadcast via an app called Live.me, Katelyn Nicole Davis first spoke to the camera about her life, accusing a family member of sexually abusing her, before hanging herself from a tree. No one did anything to help her. Hauntingly, as the video ends, a woman can be heard calling her name in the background. Horrifying as it is, the circumstances around Katelyn’s death are just one example of a disturbing trend in people live streaming their own self-harm and suicide using social media. According to leaked figures distributed to Facebook’s moderation team, there were over 4,000 incidents of live stream self-harm during just one two-week period in 2016. Of these, 63 had to be dealt with by “relevant authorities” such as the police. At the time of writing, there are no concrete figures available as to the number of people that take their own lives while live streaming. Nonetheless, the increase in cases between the first known “live suicide”, when, in 2008, 19-year-old Abraham Briggs overdosed on prescription pills as an audience egged him on, to today is clear. While Briggs’ death made headlines, there has been a whole slew of similar incidents in the last year alone, including a 14-year-old girl in Florida, a man who let his venomous snake bite him and 49-year-old man who shot himself while broadcasting on Facebook Live.  So what is compelling people to harm themselves in such a visible manner? It appears to be teenagers that are particularly susceptible to live streaming their self-harm and suicides, perhaps unsurprising given the fact that they have grown up in a world entrenched in social media and digital communication.  Not only does sharing details of their lives online come naturally, but there is also a strong understanding the power of social media to provide a platform; many of those who live stream their suicides do so with a public message to make, whether it be accusing sexual assault or fighting back against cyberbullies. Daniel Reidenberg, executive director of SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education), an organisation dedicated to the prevention of suicide, explained that this disproportionate trend also has to do with the way in which younger generations communicate with one another: “Before smartphones existed and people were really struggling with [suicidal] thoughts, if they expressed it at all, they expressed it in notes to their peers or they expressed it in their entire conversations, but today those are not the way that kids communicate," he told InsideEdition. However, for those hoping to be saved, the prospects are not always good. Although internet users have managed to alert authorities in time to save suicidal individuals in the past, it can be hard to give specifics to emergency services about a person you do not know in a location you are not sure of. When people called for help as Nakia Venant took her life while live streaming in January 2017, confusion over her location meant that emergency services were not able to get to her aid in time. Unfortunately, there is also the risk of a virtual “bystander effect”, where the more people are watching, the less likely they are to act, believing that someone else will step in even if they do not. Experts are also worried about the prospect of the trend causing “suicide cogitation”, where exposure to the suicidal behaviours of another can increase the risk of self-harm: “Somebody who’s already thinking about suicide but hasn’t begun acting out their thoughts — this could even end up being the trigger for them,” said Dr. Richard McKeon, head of the suicide prevention unit of the US's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Studies have shown that this is especially an issue for adolescents and young adults. So who is watching these live streams? Well, it would appear that a whole lot of people are. While to you or I the idea of sitting down and watching the death of a 12-year-old would seem sick and incomprehensible, the video of Katelyn Davis' final moments quickly went viral. After being posted to her Facebook account it was swiftly deleted by her family but police were unable to stop it being spread and copied, with other users also uploading it to sites such as YouTube, where it was viewed 40,000 times. While YouTube and Facebook did make efforts to remove the copies of the video posted on their sites, it took the latter two weeks to finally do so. To their credit, Facebook has been making increasing efforts to tackle the problem, adding roles to the community operations team responsible for monitoring the activity that occurs the site, and working with suicide prevention organisations to develop safeguarding policies. They are currently working on improving AI devices to scan and monitor their site and look for red flags around suicidal behaviour. However, in October 2017, a spokesman told the New York Post that they were powerless to stop all live streamed suicides, owing to the sheer volume of content produced by its two billion users, which really, sounds a bit like the cop-out that just keeps giving.  But self-harm isn't the only issue presented by live streaming services, which have been tainted by incidents of sexual and physical violence, cyber-bullying and even accidental deaths. In December 2017, British police expressed concern that paedophiles were increasingly taking advantage of the technology to prey on vulnerable or impressionable youngsters; in the US a 19-year-old woman was this year jailed for nine months for live streaming the rape of a friend. Needless to say, these are just two examples of many. With sites such as Live.Me, Facebook Live and Periscope making it easier than ever for people to broadcast in real time, we are not only treated to the high moments of human life - the weddings, the Christmases, the first steps - but confronted with the darker sides too. Neither the internet nor suicide can be easily challenged, but the quicker action is taken, the more effectively vulnerable people can be helped. As for Facebook, the phrase "With great power comes great responsibility" springs to mind - while they may not have invented live streaming, they are, arguably, the most powerful media influencer in the world right now. So whether they like it or not, it is their responsibility to keep tabs on the beast that they have unleashed.  If you or anyone else you know is grappling with suicidal thoughts then please seek urgent professional medical care, or call the Samaritans on 116 123 for help and free 24-hour counselling.

The latest victim on Taylor Swift's long and unforgiving list of rivals is none other than celebrity gossip correspondent Perez Hilton. He says that he was suspended from Twitter after posting a picture of a rumoured tracklist for the musician's new album Reputation. He posted a photo of someone holding a copy of Reputation – which is only due to come out on Friday – revealing a could-be tracklist. Perez quickly received a "take-down notice" from Swift's team, and soon after was suspended from Twitter entirely. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BYJLD0MnU89/?taken-by=taylorswift]] Swift has been extremely secretive about the new album, at first entirely deleting all her social media posts from the "Old Taylor" in an over-the-top and excessively dramatic move, before releasing dribs and drabs of information and a few singles here and there in an effort to tease listeners about the new album. While diehard Swifties are sure to be lapping it up, everyone else is getting a little tired of Swift "throwing shade" and using her new songs to subtly "diss" people she's had beef with in the past (Kanye, Kim Kardashian, Calvin Harris, Katy Perry). We get it – they did you wrong, and you just can't get over it no matter how much you whine and cry and add clever Easter eggs into your music videos. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BYNz_r0HMgt/?taken-by=taylorswift]] And now, Perez seems to have landed a spot on the Tay-tay hitlist. In a 6-minute video posted to YouTube, Perez spoke about his suspension and slammed Swift and her management about how they reacted to his post about the album. "Earlier today I was talking about many journalists who have felt bullied by the Taylor Swift machine," said Perez. "I had never felt that before, but I now am a victim of Taylor’s wrath." He's referring to another video he made about the vicious "Taylor Swift machine" who bullies other celebrities, thinks she's all that, and "hurts" her fans by not wanting to release her music on streaming services. [[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ChMpY1C-w]] Hilton's new video about the suspension caused by Swift involved a lot of exaggerated sighing and the 39-year-old dropping the phrase "lame as balls... that are on fire". Erm... righto. He said her team is being "very aggressive" and that he is very disappointed by the whole thing. "I didn’t know if it was real or not," he said. "If it was real, who cares? It was a photo of a guy’s hand holding the back of the copy of the album." "I posted it and then I got a takedown notice from Taylor’s label, then my Twitter account got suspended. "The album comes out in two days, and you’re suspending me for promoting your album? I didn’t leak any freakin’ music, it’s a freakin’ tracklisting." He went on to explain that it's legal as the post is protected under fair use because the content was deemed newsworthy. "And to top it all off, like an hour after I was suspended for posting the tracklisting Taylor Swift post the tracklisting herself and I'm still suspended from Twitter." [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BbN9rHVH0bo/?taken-by=taylorswift]] "I'm not mad at Taylor Swift directly, I just think the people at her label are making some really dumb decisions".  You can watch the video here if you really want to, but I would recommend doing as I did and tackling it at 2X speed. [[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4mZN-KTvQ4]] In any case, Hilton concluded that despite the monumental disappointment and the balls-on-fire situation, the Twitter suspension “will not disillusion [him] from Taylor Swift.” Yeesh, do what you will dude, but leave me the hell out of it. It's just too much drama.

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's 'WAP' has taken the world by storm, sparking debates about female pleasure and, of course, prompting many emulations of the dance featured in the music video.

However, while attempting the moves from the hit song might be a bit of fun for most people, one girl has now been hospitalized after attempting the dance.

Watch the girl's journey from 'WAP' to A&E: 

[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/CEAc2gaA-dZ/]]

News of the girl's accident was first broken on her TikTok account before it was posted to Instagram by Cardi B herself with the warning: "Please guys be safe while doing the WAP WAP WAP".

The original footage was posted by a girl who went by the name of lib_bbbbbbb on TikTok and she captioned it: "Never doing the WAP dance again."

In the footage, the girl can be seen kicking her legs out in the air as she attempts the splits before falling down in pain. The TikTok then transitions to footage of her on the ground and then in a hospital stretcher before having brace attached to her knee and an IV drip in her arm.

"Popped her knee out doing a TikTok dance can't make this up," an onlooker wrote in a Snapchat, which the original TikTok user posted in the video.

For understandable reasons, the video has gone viral, and Yahoo! News reports that it has been viewed over 3.7 million times, and the vast majority of reactions on Cardi B's Instagram poked fun at the situation.

Girls wrote: "Went from WAP to WELP real quick."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Instagram]]

Meanwhile, Chris Crocker joked: "I don't even want to know what this dance would do to my man macaroni."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Instagram / itschriscrocker]]

This accident comes after Russell Brand was slammed for criticizing 'WAP'.

In a video entitled "WAP: Feminist Masterpiece or Porn?" the comedian turned actor questioned whether women "achieve equality by aspiring to and replicating the values that have been established by males."

Watch Brand make his controversial comments below: 

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/rustyrockets/status/1294359385741950976]]

He said that, in his opinion, music videos created by women are "an emulation of a template that already exists and was established by males."

He then asked: "Is it equality if the template has already been established by a formal dominator? The answer is no."

"I wouldn’t be so reductive and simplistic to say that women celebrating their bodies using an aesthetic that's conventionally been associated with the male gaze means it's impossible that these tools could be used as a vehicle for liberation," Russell continued.

"But I am saying that, in a sense, it's still the same metric - it's still the same aesthetic, it’s still the same values, it's still the same ideals. It's still ultimately a sort of capitalist objectification and commodification of, in this case, the female."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: PA Images]]

However, it wasn't long before people began to slam the 45-year-old's comments, claiming that there was absolutely no need for him to "mansplain" feminism.

People are calling for the person who allegedly spiked a groom's drink to pay for another wedding for the couple so they can renew their vows.

The bride, whose name is Brandy, took to TikTok to share the scary moment her groom, Billy, began acting strange right before they were due to wed.

The video revealed that Billy had supposedly been spiked with Adderall, a medication that contains a combination of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine, and that the effects were not only terrifying but potentially "fatal".

The couple wrote in the overlay text: "Sharing his emotional story of having his drink spiked with crushed Adderall to bring awareness to the fatal consequences," in which bride and groom can be seen dressed and ready to walk down the aisle.

Watch the video below:

However, the footage has now gone viral and amassed 9.4 million views and 790.6K likes, with many users calling for the person behind the incident to pay for the renewal of the couple's wedding vows.

Elyse Myers on TikTok, wrote: "I NEED TO KNOW HOW WE CAN HELP Y’ALL HAVE A REDO."

Another TikToker who goes by the handle, Tinx, wrote: "Who would do such a thing! I’m so sorry! Whoever did it needs to pay for a do-over."

A third user said: "Not me wondering if you can sue for the entire cost of your wedding and recreate a better one."

Credit: TikTok. Credit: TikTok Credit: TikTok

A fourth commented: "I’d renew vows same time next year to make things right so he can remember every special moment," to which Brandy replied: "Yes we thought the same it is necessary because Billy doesn’t remember."

Credit: TikTok.

According to WebMD, if the medication interacts with alcohol, it could potentially cause some serious harm. Per the American Addiction Centers, the combination puts the body at an increased risk of accident or seizures.

The side effects include causing nausea, vomiting, dehydration, hurting an individual's judgment, lack of reaction, coordination, and blurred vision.

The bride wrote that her husband experienced those side effects, writing: "Sweating, super red, heart racing, dry mouth, couldn’t form words, emotional up’s and down’s, confused at times, anger, doesn’t remember these moments."

Featured image credit: Bogdan Trush / Alamy

Rapper Offset has been hospitalized after being shot in Florida, his representative confirmed to USA TODAY on Monday.

A spokesperson for the 34-year-old artist, whose real name is Kiari Kendrell Cephus, said he was “shot and is currently at the hospital receiving medical care,” adding that “he is stable and being closely monitored.”

What have the police said about the shooting?

Police also addressed the incident. The Seminole Police Department said it was “aware of an incident that occurred at a valet area after 7PM Monday outside of Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood that resulted in non-life-threatening injuries to an individual who was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.”

They added: “Seminole Police were on site immediately, and the situation was contained quickly. Two individuals have been detained by police.”

Authorities noted that the investigation is still active but reassured the public, stating: “The site is secure and there is no threat to the public. Operations continue as normal.”

Offset's relationship with Migos and Cardi B

Offset, a founding member of the rap group Migos, is a father of six. He shares three children with his former partner and fellow rapper Cardi B.

The couple married in 2017 but began divorce proceedings in 2024 after a tumultuous relationship, with both parties facing allegations of infidelity.

The shooting comes four years after the tragic death of his fellow Migos member Takeoff, who was killed outside a bowling alley in Houston. Reflecting on that loss in 2024, Offset said the pain “never” fades.

“I just keep pushing and keeping a positive thought process because that’s what he would want me to do,” he explained. “I pray and keep family close. I hear him talking to me here and there and giving me signs to keep pushing. He’s literally on my dresser [in a photo] everywhere I go.”

Featured Image. Credit: Mario Skraban/Getty Images