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Click here to see the New Zealand livestream mass-murder vid! This is the internet Facebook, YouTube, Twitter built!

anthonyhegedus Silver badge

It is a difficult one. Who decides what is illegal content? As other commenters have noted, some things are perfectly legal in some jurisdictions but not in others. Do we make the popular social media platforms such as google and facebook free of anything vaguely contentious anywhere. No kissing couples (same or different sex - doesn't matter - it's all contentious), no video game uploads, no talking about abortion, no talk of freedom of the press. Only fun stuff like people smashing up iphones, cats being cute and reviews of tech. And adverts.

Having a several minute (or even an hour or two) delay while some human checks content is a good idea, so no more live feeds - not such a great loss for many people.

But posts about weapons, racist ideologies and killing could easily be taken down if only facebook et al actually employed enough people. Sure, they'd make less profit, but aren't they just a little bit too greedy as it is?

Case in point, and nothing to do with killing: I've noticed in my facebook feed, day after day, adverts for cheap Microsoft software. Not just cheap but software that's only available by subscription (office 365) with "lifetime keys". Clearly illegal stuff and probably using stolen accounts. And with different companies almost every day peddling this stuff. FIrst of all, Facebook should detect this, it's easy, with a human in charge. Secondly, when I report it to Facebook, only one of two things ever happens: 90% of the time, I get no response, and the remaining 10% of the time, I get a message back saying it doesn't contravene Facebook's standards! There's no way to offer up an explanation, no way to report again.

Now if Facebook can't even manage a bit of obviously illegal software, how the hell would they manage to prevent live-streaming of killings in a reasonable space of time?

These companies need to seriously up their game. They created this monster, and they should be able to advise on the best solutions! Government regulation is doubtlessly required as well. Massive fines should focus the attention of social media companies.

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