Christchurch shooting: Facebook Live video available for hours after killing spree

Distressing footage streamed to Facebook from the alleged Christchurch gunman from Australia remained available for hours after the attack.

Graphic and disturbing video streamed from a camera mounted to the Christchurch shooter was available on Facebook for up to three hours following the massacre today, in a move one social media expert called “unthinkable”.

The harrowing point-of-view video, which showed victims being mowed down by the gunman for 17 minutes, played live on the social network but was then available for users to view for hours after the attack.

Experts said the company had a “moral” obligation to respond faster to complaints about murders shown on its network, even if it wasn’t a legal requirement.

The alleged gunman, Brenton Tarrant, broadcast the video to Facebook at 1.40pm, Christchurch time, describing it only as “streamed from my GoPro”.

But the distressing point-of-view footage quickly went viral on the social network, with other users sharing the footage and uploading it to YouTube and Twitter.

Facebook New Zealand spokeswoman Mia Garlick said the company removed the original video from its network after being contacted by police.

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Weapons allegedly used by a gunman during a mass shooting at a Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. Picture: AAP

“New Zealand Police alerted us to a video on Facebook shortly after the live stream commenced and we quickly removed both the shooter’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and the video,” she said.

But New Zealand Police confirmed they were still working with social networks to have the footage taken down three hours after the incident occurred, and recommending to users “that the link not be shared”.

Moderators at YouTube and Twitter also censored the murder video online, with a Google spokesman commenting that “shocking, violent, and graphic content has no place on our platforms, and is removed as soon as we become aware of it”.

It’s understood Facebook also suspended the alleged shooter’s profile as “mass and serial murderers” were banned under the company’s Community Standards.

Facebook is under fire for what happened. Picture: AP

But social media law expert Roger Blow said it was “unthinkable” that a “well-resourced” platform like Facebook could not identify and remove homicide videos more promptly.

“Facebook is very quick to take down porn. Could they have taken this down more quickly? I think so,” he said.

“When a corporation becomes the centre of so many of our social interactions, that’s what we need to see from them.”

While the video was unlikely to prejudice a criminal case, Mr Blow said, blocking such a footage from Facebook’s general audience would have been the right thing to do “on a moral basis”.

Despite the shocking nature of the footage, the Christchurch massacre is not the first killing captured and streamed on Facebook, using a live video feature introduced in 2016.

The social network has also hosted videos of a US man shot dead by police in 2016, a 74-year-old killed at point-blank range, and the Thailand murder of an 11-month-old baby that remained on the social network for nearly 24 hours.

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Originally published as Christchurch shooting: Facebook Live video available for hours after killing spree