The service provider for the site has become the first to be investigated under the Online Safety Act.
A suicide forum is being investigated by regulator Ofcom as part of the first probe of its kind under the Online Safety Act.
The watchdog will look at whether the site’s service provider failed to put in place “appropriate safety measures” to protect users from illegal content and activity.
It is the first investigation opened into an individual online service provider under the new laws.
According to the BBC, the forum – which is not being named due to the nature of its content – has been linked to at least 50 deaths in the UK.
It is reported to have tens of thousands of members who discuss methods of suicide and share information.
Under the new legislation, service providers had until March 16 to assess the risk of users encountering illegal content and how it could be used to commit criminal offences, including encouraging or assisting suicide.
The watchdog said it had made several attempts to work with the service provider and had requested a record of its risk assessment.
A statement said: “We’ve been clear that failure to comply with the new online safety duties or adequately respond to our information requests may result in enforcement action, and that we would not hesitate to take swift action where we suspect there may be serious breaches.
“Having received a limited response to our request, and unsatisfactory information about the steps being taken to protect UK users from illegal content, we have today launched an investigation into whether the provider is complying with its legal obligations under the Act.”
Ofcom can impose fines of up to £18 million or 10% of worldwide revenue if it finds compliance failures.
