The web of today doesn't forget, even if you want to. A day after going through hellish moments, in which she contemplated killing herself, young politician Shehla Rashid was reminded by Quora with an email of her torment and was asked if she was still interested in finding answer to what would be least painful way to die. Not only it shows just how dumb all the smart algorithms are but also the sinister ways in which these techniques are used by technology companies in the name of increasing engagement.

In a Twitter thread, Shehla recounts how "premenstrual dysphoric disorder" brought her on the verge of suicide, where she was so distraught that she looked on the web for ways to kill herself. "A few days ago, I started having strong suicidal thoughts. I had been feeling that way for two weeks. But that night, I actually looked up ways to end my life & enacted many of them in my head," she wrote on Twitter.

But she managed to weather the phase. Unfortunately, the search queries she had made on the web remained and one of these queries were utilised by the "smart" Quora algorithms to create a personalised message to her. She got this message next day through email. "Still curious about which would be the least painful death..." asked the message.

Shehla wrote about it on her Twitter page. "You have algorithms to help you die. Since I was actually contemplating suicide, I didn't care that I was logged in. And this morning @Quora sends me an email asking if I'm still contemplating suicide, and that they're here to help," she tweeted. "In a world where algorithms will help you end your life if you want to end your life, it's really important to share information about PMDD - premenstrual dysphoric disorder - a severe form of PMS that can even make you suicidal."

The incident once again shows how opaque algorithms that solely focus on engagement from users or aim to increase spread of viral content are actually harming web users. And it's not only smart algorithms used by Quora that are in the dock here. On Facebook, algorithms often prefer the content that goes viral even if the content is not appropriate. On YouTube, once you have watched -- even if by mistake -- a silly conspiracy video, algorithms often push similar and sillier videos in queue for you to watch. The same smart algorithms are at work when YouTube suggests completely ridiculous videos to a user just because accidentally once the users clicked on a similar video.

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