With billions of users, Facebook and YouTube are "ungovernable" at this point, said Vaidhyanathan, who called Facebook's livestreaming service a "profoundly stupid idea." "We have certain companies that have built systems that have inadvertently served the cause of violent hatred around the world," Vaidhyanathan said.įacebook and YouTube were designed to share pictures of babies, puppies and other wholesome things, he said, "but they were expanded at such a scale and built with no safeguards such that they were easy to hijack by the worst elements of humanity." If Facebook wanted to monitor every livestream to prevent disturbing content from making it out in the first place, "they would have to hire millions of people," something it's not willing to do, said Vaidhyanathan, who teaches media studies at the University of Virginia. Some people expressed outrage on Twitter that the videos were still circulating hours after the attack.īut that's just a drop in the bucket of what is needed to police the social media platform, said Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of "Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy." New Zealand police urged people not to share the footage, and many internet users called for tech companies and news sites to take the material down. One journalist tweeted that several people sent her the video via the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging app. The furor highlights once again the speed at which graphic and disturbing content from a tragedy can spread around the world and how Silicon Valley tech giants are still grappling with how to prevent that from happening.īritish tabloid newspapers such as The Daily Mail and The Sun posted screenshots and video snippets on their websites. Twitter, YouTube owner Google and Reddit also were working to remove the footage from their sites. "We will continue working directly with New Zealand Police as their response and investigation continues." "Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and the community affected by this horrendous act," Facebook New Zealand spokeswoman Mia Garlick said in a statement.įacebook is "removing any praise or support for the crime and the shooter or shooters as soon as we're aware," she said. The shooter also left a 74-page manifesto that he posted on social media under the name Brenton Tarrant, identifying himself as a 28-year-old Australian and white nationalist who was out to avenge attacks in Europe perpetrated by Muslims. Several more worshippers were killed at a second mosque a short time later. Using what appeared to be a helmet-mounted camera, the gunman livestreamed in horrifying detail 17 minutes of the attack on worshippers at the Al Noor Mosque, where at least 41 people died. At least 49 people were killed at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand's third-largest city. Facebook said it took down a livestream of the shootings and removed the shooter's Facebook and Instagram accounts after being alerted by police.
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