Member-only story
Profit Or Hate? Freedom Of Speech Or Censor Extremist Content? Should Facebook, Youtube & Twitter Be More Socially Responsible?
The supreme irony of Facebook saying they did not take the New Zealand mass shooting livestream down while it was happening … because no one on Facebook told them about it… reflects state of our beloved social networks and our society!
Just the fact that a social network like Facebook provided a worldwide stage and audience for an extremist shooter in New Zealand, must make one stop and ask a few questions: Is this a one time occurrence … or a precedence setting tip of the iceberg now that it is known that this can be done? How can this be prevented from happening again? Who should prevent it — social networks or the government? Should or can social networks be more socially responsible? Who should adjudicate these tensions between privacy, profit, freedom of speech, and hate?
Here are the many telling facts and steps coming out of the incident in Christchurch:
- A mass murder at a religious place was livestreamed on a worldwide forum: a horrific 17 minute video was livestreamed and watched live by 200 people. It stayed available for 29 minute before New Zealand police informed Facebook … by which time it had been viewed 4000 times, copied and pushed out to other platforms! In the…
