RONNIE McNutt’s final tragic Facebook post, shared minutes before his suicide went live, read “Know you’re loved”. Tragic footage of the U.S. Army veteran’s final moments went viral on social media after the 33-year-old veteran from Mississippi committed suicide in his home on Aug. 31. Facebook has also been criticized for refusing to remove disturbing content for two hours — because it did not violate the site’s policies. However, McNutt’s latest post on the social media site shows his latest attempt to get help.
He shared an image with words like: “Someone in your life needs to be heard, they matter. They are loved. “They have a future. Be the one to tell them.” Ronnie’s friend Josh Steen said “Facebook could have stopped this but didn’t” and claimed the social media giant was “directly responsible” for sharing the video.
“Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social platforms can ban accounts, IPs, and stop distributing that video.” YouTube can flag you for using two seconds of a copyrighted song, but doesn’t seem to be able to filter out my friend’s end of life. This It doesn’t make any sense,” Mr Steen told Heavy.
Video of his suicide has now gone viral on TikTok – shocking footage for children as young as 13 to watch. TikTok said it was actively working to stop the video from spreading on its app. Mr Steen said Ronnie suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in the US military in Iraq. “He didn’t seem to be the guy who went to Iraq after retiring. I spent many late nights in our studio texting and talking to him in person about life and his struggles,” he said.
Mr Steen said he had watched the entire video and believed his friend did not intend to kill himself. He said Ronnie often live-streamed “excursions” on Facebook – but in the video, he was “heavy and drunk, which combined with his recent relationship issues led to the bottom line”.
The video was first reported to Facebook when Ronnie was alive, but Mr Steen said he had “no response from Facebook”. He claimed police were called and stood outside Ronnie’s house as they watched the live stream. Mr Steen said he did not hear from Facebook until 11.51pm – about 90 minutes after Ronnie’s death.
Facebook reportedly said they would not remove the video, writing: “This post will remain on Facebook as we only remove content that violates our community standards. Our standards do not allow for things that encourage suicide or self-harm.” Mr Steen claimed the video was not removed until 1.30am. Scary trolls have now set up a fake account claiming to be Ronnie McNutt and saying he faked his suicide.
