Facebook Pulls Stabbing App Amid UK Knife Deaths

Britain concerned about spate of knife violence
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2008 12:07 PM CDT
Facebook Pulls Stabbing App Amid UK Knife Deaths
A poster on the London Underground advertises a documentary about the growing use of weapons in Britain.   ((c) markhillary)

A surge in knife crime has shaken Britain, ABC News reports. Twelve people—six of them teenagers—were stabbed to death in a single week this month. Public concern has caused Facebook to yank a third-party application where users could send each other "virtual stabs," and Nike has taken its Air Stab shoes off the market.

The government has announced a $200 million anti-knife crime campaign to reassure the worried British public that something is being done. Campaigners are seeking a way to reverse a cycle of violence caused by a perception among young people— aggravated, some say, by things like the Facebook application—that knife crime is so prevalent they must carry knifes to defend themselves.
(More Britain stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X