Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter would face a ‘reckoning’ for letting Christchurch mosque shooting video stay online

The world’s three biggest social networks have been slammed for spreading footage from the Christchurch shooting for more than 12 hours after the massacre, despite police intervention.

The world’s three biggest social networks have been slammed for spreading footage from the Christchurch shooting for more than 12 hours after the massacre, despite police intervention.

Technology experts and political analysts called for greater regulation and warned Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter would face a “reckoning” for their role in broadcasting the killing spree to hundreds and thousands of viewers.

One video of the attack hosted on Facebook, filmed to appear like a Call of Duty-style first-person video game, was viewed more than 230,000 times before it was removed.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark lead the condemnation of the multibillion-dollar companies yesterday, calling for more effective ways to prevent criminal videos from being disseminated on social media.

“What’s going on here?” she asked of the 17-minute live video broadcast on Facebook. “I think this will add to all the calls around the world for more effective regulation of social media platforms.”

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The Christchurch mosque shooting was everywhere on the internet for hours before being removed.

Ms Clark said the tech giants’ failure to promptly stop its spread had not only disturbed viewers but could exacerbate racist attacks.

“Social media has become a platform for the propagation of violence and violent acts,” she said.

It was a view echoed by Pakistani political commentator Mosharraf Zaidi, who labelled Facebook and Twitter’s failure to act swiftly “unbelievable” and potentially dangerous.

“Every single view of those videos is a potential contribution to future acts of violence,” he said. “These platforms have a responsibility they are failing to live up to.”

The man behind the deadly Christchurch attack live-streamed graphic video of the incident directly to Facebook, with the social network only removing the video after it was contacted by New Zealand Police.

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The man charged in relation to the Christchurch mosque massacre Brenton Harrison Tarrant is lead into the dock for his appearance for murder, in the District Court, Christchurch. Picture: AAP

But that video was re-shared on Facebook multiple times, and was also widely posted to other social networks including Google’s site YouTube, Twitter, and Reddit.

Social media consultant Matt Navarra said the attack proved even the most well-resourced tech firms still had “no viable solution” to moderating disturbing content on their platforms and needed to devote more resources to the problem.

“Facebook has more it could do to improve its moderation activity,” he told News Corp.

Police have begun the ugly task of removing the bodies from the mosque. Picture Gary Ramage

“Hashing of videos and better (artificial intelligence) and more human moderators to get to the live stream quicker or restrict duplicate uploads from copies of the original.”

But Mr Navarra said the problem could easily happen again simply because social media was designed to “spread any content or any communication you want for free at speed to as many people as possible,” and both users and the companies would need to change.

“There needs to be a fundamental shift in how we all use social media and how social media companies allow their platforms to operate,” he said. “I think we are about to hit that reckoning.”

Police look for evidence in the surrounding streets near the mosque. Picture Gary Ramage

Facebook New Zealand spokeswoman Mia Garlick said the company removed video from the Christchurch terrorist attack and others like it after being contacted by police, removed the alleged attacker’s profile from the social network, and moderators would now target “removing any praise or support for the crime and the shooter or shooters”.

Hundreds of floral tributes run the length of a wall at the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch. Picture Gary Ramage

Google and Twitter also issued statements saying the companies removed the video from its platforms “as soon as we became aware of it,” though thousands were able to watch the video despite their efforts. Reddit also removed two groups, titled Watch People Die and Gore, from sharing the video.

US Democratic Senator Cory Booker, who is running for the US presidency next year, called the response “unacceptable”.

“Tech companies have a responsibility to do the morally right thing. I don’t care about your profits,” he said at a campaign event.

“This is a case where you’re giving a platform for hate. That’s unacceptable, it should have never happened, and it should have been taken down a lot more swiftly.”

Originally published as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter would face a ‘reckoning’ for letting Christchurch mosque shooting video stay online