Suicide of Ronnie McNutt

On August 31, 2020, Ronnie McNutt, a 33-year-old American man, committed suicide by shooting himself under the chin with a single shot rifle on a Facebook livestream, which went viral on social media platforms. The case became notable for both the callous attitude expressed towards McNutt's death by some internet users, as well as Facebook's slow response to the video, which had been shared to numerous other platforms and amassed a large view count before finally being taken down. Video platform TikTok was also slow to respond to the video, which had appeared in many user feeds and constant re-uploads, leading to many users choosing to boycott the platform. The case has raised awareness about both suicide prevention and what duty of care social media platforms owe to protect users and victims' reputations online when it comes to graphic content. Ronald Merle McNutt (May 23, 1987 – August 31, 2020) was a resident of New Albany, Mississippi, and had served in the United States Army Reserve, including in Iraq. McNutt worked at a Toyota plant. He had a variety of mental health problems, such as depression as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the latter of which was a direct consequence of his time served in the Iraq War in 2007 and 2008. In addition to this, he was also dealing with a recent break-up with his girlfriend; some media reports also said that he lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic, though Rolling Stone disputed this. McNutt was a Christian who regularly attended church. On August 31, 2020, McNutt began a livestream on Facebook. His best friend, Joshua Steen, noticed the stream. He did not initially find it unusual as McNutt had routinely done livestreams in the past, but he became alarmed when he realized that McNutt was intoxicated and holding a single shot rifle. Steen allegedly attempted to intervene numerous times, particularly when McNutt misfired the rifle, hoping that Facebook would cut off the stream and end the video feed, preventing people from seeing into McNutt's home while Steen sought police intervention.