News Investigation

Family of 16-Year-Old Boy Who Died of Suicide After Relentless Cyberbullying Speaks Out

Dec 2017 🇺🇸 People

Suicide and self-harm are complex and never caused by one factor alone. Problematic screen use, cyberbullying, harmful content, and online exploitation may increase risk or intensify existing distress. If someone is in immediate danger or emotional crisis in the United States, call or text 988.

Outside the U.S.? Find your local helpline at findahelpline.com.

This People magazine feature, published almost two years after David Molak's death, is one of the earliest national profiles of the Molak family's advocacy. Reporter Caitlin Keating interviews Maurine Molak and other family members about the online harassment David experienced as a high school sophomore in San Antonio, and about the family's decision to launch David's Legacy Foundation two months after his death. The piece describes the foundation's role in drafting what became David's Law, Texas legislation giving schools authority to address off-campus cyberbullying, and introduces the family's device-pledge sticker campaign. TechKids Foundation cites this profile as an early, widely read account of how one family's loss, which the family associates with sustained online harassment David experienced, became the basis for sustained legislative advocacy.

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CITATION

Keating, Caitlin. "Family of 16-Year-Old Boy Who Died of Suicide After Relentless Cyberbullying Speaks Out." People, December 21, 2017. https://people.com/human-interest/david-molak-family-speaks-out-after-suicide/

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