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ROME — An Italian prosecutor has opened an investigation into how Facebook allowed the publication of insults and bullying posts aimed at a teenager who later leapt to her death from her third-floor bedroom window.

Carolina Picchio, 14, from Novara in northern Italy, died in January after a gang of boys circulated a video on Facebook of her appearing drunk and dishevelled in the bathroom at a party.

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The group, aged between 15 and 17, were said to be friends of Miss Picchio’s ex-boyfriend. He had allegedly insulted her on Facebook when she left him days earlier.

In a note to the boy found in her room, Miss Picchio wrote: “Isn’t what you have done to me enough? You have made me pay too many times.” The boy said he apologised to her for the insults, but she then took her own life, writing on Facebook: “Forgive me if I am not strong. I cannot take it any longer.”

The Italian Parents’ Association has already filed a criminal complaint in Rome directly against Facebook for allegedly having a role in the instigation of Miss Picchio’s suicide. “This is the first time a parents’ group has filed such a complaint against Facebook in Europe,” said Antonio Affinita, the director. “Italian law forbids minors under 18 signing contracts, yet Facebook is effectively entering into a contract with minors regarding their privacy, without their parents knowing.”