Digital Suicide and the Biopolitics of Leaving Facebook

Abstract

In 2009 leaving Facebook became a trend. Two separate art projects Seppukoo.com and Web 2.0Suicidemachine presented digital suicide as a method to disconnect oneself from the social networking service.  In this article, I approach the problem of leaving Facebook. A critical analysis of leaving Facebook and using digital suicide sites illustrates how life becomes tangled and controlled in the ubiquitous webs of network culture, and moreover how biopolitical models of capitalism are embedded in the structures and practices of exploiting the users of social networks. Theoretically this article is inspired by critical studies of digital culture.