Ronnie McNutt suicide video leaves kids traumatised after platforms struggle to remove it

Even though parents have been warned to keep their kids off TikTok after a shocking video circulated, for many it was already too late.

Parents say their children have been left traumatised after inadvertently watching a suicide video that the Prime Minister Scott Morrison said "no child should be exposed to".

The video was first streamed live on Facebook on August 31, but now recordings have surfaced on Instagram and TikTok and the platforms are struggling to keep them off, with users hiding the content behind other innocent videos.

Cybersecurity expert and child safety advocate Susan McLean posted a warning on Facebook about the horrifying footage.

“Please ensure you do not allow your older teens on the app today if they have it,” Ms Mclean wrote on Facebook.

But for many it was already too late.

One woman said her 13-year-old saw it last night and was still traumatised.

“So did my 16-year-old, she described it to me,” another mother said on news.com.au’s Facebook page.

“It haunts her and the image of his little dog that comes into the room after he did it.”

Another woman said her 14-year-old had watched it too.

“It is selfish and disgusting (for him to stream it),” she said.

“If you are in a bad place you don’t have to wreck others. How traumatising.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has condemned the video.

“No child should be ­exposed to horrifying content like this and platforms like TikTok need to put in more ­resources to detect and tear down this sort of harmful content,” he said. “That is their ­responsibility.”

Mr Morrison said the government’s eSafety Commissioner was “engaging closely” with TikTok to “demand the video is removed”.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the video was "a horrifying and stark example of why we need to do everything we can to protect children and families from the dangers of social media".

The video was first streamed live on Facebook at the end of August.

One mum said her daughter saw it as far back as Sunday.

Others shared how their schools had sent a message to parents warning them about the video.

Some questioned why parents let their children have the popular video sharing app.

The video is of Ronnie McNutt, 33, who killed himself in his Mississippi home on August 31 while he was lifestreaming from his computer.

There are unconfirmed reports that he had lost his job and broken up with his girlfriend before his suicide.

His church confirmed his death on its own Facebook page, describing him as “very caring, committed, loyal, dependable, and eccentric”.

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Ronnie McNutt lifestreamed his suicide.

TikTok said its systems had been automatically detecting and flagging the clips for violating its policies against content that displays, praises, glorifies, or promotes suicide.

“We are banning accounts that repeatedly try to upload clips, and we appreciate our community members who’ve reported content and warned others against watching, engaging, or sharing such videos on any platform out of respect for the person and their family,” the company said in a statement.

It also provides access to support hotlines from inside the app.

Facebook has also been contacted for comment.