PM, Shorten move to censor Facebook violence

Scott Morrison has demanded social media companies provide assurances terrorist attacks will not be shown live online again.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison looks at floral tributes to the victims of the Christchurch terror attack during a visit to the Lakemba Mosque, in south west Sydney on Saturday. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten have united to condemn the failure of social media giants such as Facebook to crack down on the spread of violent hate speech after footage of the Christchurch massacre — in which 50 people were killed — was live-streamed over the internet.

The Opposition Leader yesterday said there could not be one standard for old technology while social media was given a leave pass, declaring that there was “no liberty to practise hate speech”.

“I say to those big social media giants, you cannot be distant, an ­island away from the conduct of your platforms,” he said. “If a newspaper wrote some of the stuff that you allow on your media platforms, they’d be in court. If individuals at a cafe or a pub spoke in the way that you let people speak online, there’d be a call to the police.’’

The Prime Minister demanded tech giants provide assurances they would prevent attacks from being shown online, suggesting live-streaming services could be suspended. The Christchurch attack was broadcast on the gunman’s Facebook page and copies of the video quickly made it to YouTube.

­“Social media companies co-operated with authorities over the last 48 hours so I’m making no comment against their willingness to co-operate but … the capacity to assist fully is very limited on the technology side,” he said. “In the past, they have suspended this sort of Facebook live-streaming and assurances were given that when it was put back up, that it could avoid this. Clearly it hasn’t.”