A French terminally ill man, Alan Cocq planned to livestream his death as he suffered from an incurable condition that caused his arteries to stick together. By doing so, he wanted to highlight France’s complicated Right-to-Die law, which did not allow him to ‘die with dignity’ because he had no reason to live like a vegetable.
Cocq wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron back in July, asking him to let him die according to his will as he was ‘fed-up’ of living in pain. The French President wrote back denying his request, but appreciating his ‘remarkable willpower’.
The reason being that French law prohibits euthanasia, allowing it only on certain conditions. Many other countries too have restrictions on the right to die, and this has been a highly controversial topic all across the world.
Generally when we talk about censorship, what comes to our mind is blocking of websites, posts, or other media which is critical of a person or an entity. We all have heard how Governments censor social media and other websites to favor them, but this is probably the first time Facebook has gone ahead and stopped someone from dying and highlighting it through its platform.
Censorship is a debatable topic, but in this instance, Facebook’s move is commendable.