Suicide forum warned of potential £18m fine by Ofcom

A suicide forum used by two young people who fatally poisoned themselves has been warned it could be fined up to £18m for breaching the UK's Online Safety Act.

Vlad Nikolin-Caisley, 17, and Aimee Walton, 21, both from Southampton, died after taking poison recommended in the online pro-suicide chat room.

Ofcom said it planned to issue a provisional notice saying the company had likely broken the Online Safety Act and it would issue an official notice in the first few months of this year.

The company will have a chance to reply and give its side, as the law requires.

The BBC has spent years investigating the online forum, which last year had more than 50,000 members globally.

The investigation identified multiple warnings to the government by coroners and a number of police investigations, but the forum still remains active.

The website, which the BBC is not naming, has blocked UK users sporadically following Ofcom's investigation and tried last year to reach UK users using a different domain name.

In 2022, Aimee was found dead in a hotel room in Berkshire after swallowing poison she had been recommended in a pro-suicide forum and bought online.

Her sister Adele said: "This website has taken at least 133 lives in the UK, including my sister Aimee's, and with each day that it remains online more vulnerable people are at risk. This is not enough.

"So far, Ofcom's timid approach has failed to prevent future deaths, enabling sinister individuals to prey on our loved ones at their time of need. The continued assisting and encouraging of suicide online is a public health crisis.

"We're calling on the government to listen to our calls for a public inquiry, and to finally recognise the urgency of taking down this site."

Vlad died in May 2024 after he had taken poison, and his mother Anna Nikolin-Caisley, has called for "real" and "urgent action" from the regulators to protect children and vulnerable people.

She said: "Ofcom is only now, in January 2026, working towards a provisional notice for a forum that has been facilitating self-harm and suicide for years, including my son's death in May 2024.

"Every extra month without decisive action is another window in which vulnerable children and adults can be groomed towards suicide rather than being protected and supported."

She said the long procedural delays feel like "abandonment" for the grieving parents and families.

If the online forum does not address Ofcom's concerns, the regulator can use its full range of powers, which include large fines - up to £18m or 10% of the company's global revenue, whichever is higher.

In the most serious cases, if the company still refuses to comply, Ofcom can ask a court for permission to disrupt the company's business, which could mean asking other companies to cut off services to them or blocking access to the forum in the UK.

Ofcom has told the forum provider that it is prepared to seek these disruption measures soon after the company's chance to respond ends, if the problems continue.

The government has said previously that it would tighten up laws that allow people to buy drugs online that can be used to take their own lives, following the deaths of Vlad and Aimee.

In Wales, Miles Cross, 33, was jailed for 14 years after he pleaded guilty to four counts of intentionally doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide.

Thames Valley Police alerted North Wales Police to Cross after seeing his name when investigating another case of suicide.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story you can find information and support on the BBC Actionline website here.

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