More than 700 Britons have advertised on a website looking for help to end their lives, an investigation has found.
A BBC probe found that predators had used the members-only site to target vulnerable women and encourage them to die by suicide.
Analysis found more than 5,000 posts on the thread by people from around the world, with a substance on the site linked to the death of 130 Brits.
Among those whose deaths have been linked to the site were 28-year-old son, Brett Stevens, who travelled from his home in the Midlands to Scotland to meet a woman he had made contact with on the partners thread.
The pair rented an Airbnb and took their lives together.
His mother, Angela, told the BBC: “I miss everything about Brett, his smile, his infectious laugh.”
Of the site, she said it was a “very dangerous place”, comparing it to a dark version of a dating app.
“Where else would you go to find a partner to take your own life with?” she said. “It’s just absolutely vile.”
The broadcaster reported some were using the site to target vulnerable and suicidal people, especially women.
In one case, 31-year-old Craig McInally had responded to a series of posts in the partners thread, placed by young women looking for someone to die with.
He persuaded one of them, a vulnerable 25-year-old woman, to come to his flat and “practise” suicide, a court heard.
He repeatedly choked her and she lost consciousness, a Glasgow court heard. In 2022, he was handed an Order for Lifelong Restriction.
Investigators at Ofcom, which regulates online content, said it has been difficult to take action against the site which is based in the US.
Ofcom chief executive Melanie Dawes told the BBC threats of enforcement have not yet made a difference.
“We contacted [the site] and actually told them this was illegal, that it was promoting suicide,” she said.
“Initially they stopped it being available for UK users, but they’ve gone back on that now.”
