Facebook has banned an advertiser that used an image of deceased bullying victim Rehtaeh Parsons in an ad for its online dating website. The ad, in which "Find love in Canada! Meet Canadian girls and women for friendship, dating or relationships. Signup now!" was splashed above alternating photos of Parsons, was spotted by a man in Toronto, who said he recognized Parson's face from the news.
Andrew Ennals, a copy writer, said he alerted Facebook to the ad when he spotted it on his page at around 3:30 p.m. ET, and it was later taken down. The link led to a site called ionechat.com. Facebook has deleted the company's account. The dating website is registered to online dating service be2, which is based in Luxembourg. The website also links to Munich-based firm Insparx GmbH, which runs dating websites and lists be2 as a "core partner." “I don’t normally notice those ads, but I thought the picture looked really familiar,” said Ennals. “So I just did some quick screen grabs — I was just completely stunned that this could actually happen. I couldn’t believe this was being done to promote anything,” he said.
"This is an extremely unfortunate example of an advertiser scraping an image from the Internet and using it in their ad campaign," Facebook said in a statement on Tuesday. "This is a gross violation of our ad policies and we have removed the ad and permanently deleted the advertiser's account. We apologize for any harm this has caused."
Rehtaeh's father, Glen Canning, said the use of her photo was "disgusting." "I am completely bewildered and disgusted by this," he said. "This is my daughter, Rehtaeh. They have her in an ad for meeting singles. I don't even know what to say. I'm looking at this and I'm thinking 'How sick is that?' What a thing for a parent to see. Especially because Rehtaeh is the victim of a sexual assault and they have her on a dating website. Not only that, she's also a minor"
Parsons' tragic suicide brought international attention to her claims that she was gang-raped when she was 15 and then relentlessly tormented by classmates who called her a "slut" and harassed her for sex. Much of the bullying was a result of a photo circulated at her school that showed Parsons being assaulted by a teen boy while throwing up out a window. The two 18-year-olds involved have been charged with child pornography. Because the alleged crime took place when the men were 16, they are charged as juveniles and their identities cannot be revealed.
"People harassed her, boys she didn't know started texting her and Facebooking asking her to have sex with them since she had had sex with their friends. It just never stopped," Mrs Parsons told CBC News in April. Following a deep depression, and after suicidal thoughts became too much to handle, the teen checked herself into the hospital. A few days after her release the girl hung herself in her bathroom. Parsons' mother broke into the bathroom and tried to revive her daughter. After a few days on life support the Parsons family decided to end Rehtaeh's supportive care, ending her life as well. She died as a result of injuries she sustained attempting suicide.
RELATED: Rehtaeh Parsons Bullying Suicide: 2 Teens Face Child Porn Charges Following Suicide Of Canadian Teen Allegedly Raped, Cyber Bullied [VIDEO]
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