Facebook Tightens Live Streaming Regulations After NZ Christchurch Terror Attack

Facebook — one of the biggest social networking service company — have reportedly tightened the policies regarding Facebook live Streaming feature in the wake of New Zealand terror attack. The social media company had been busy having a conversation with the Christchurch Call, a formal group led by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, French president Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders.

The organisation was formed to review social media companies to ask and get them to act in a quickest possible way on the objectionable content. The group has been putting pressure on Facebook since the NZ Christchurch terror attack happened on March 15.

Following the group’s constant pressure, Facebook has finally introduced some stricter rules and guidelines for Facebook’s live streaming feature.

Vice President of Integrity Guy Rosen said that those who have broken the rules including against “dangerous organizations and individuals,” will not be allowed to use Facebook live streaming feature. “Following the horrific recent terrorist attacks in New Zealand, we’ve been reviewing what more we can do to limit our services from being used to cause harm or spread hate,” Rosen said in a statement.

“Someone who shares a link to a statement from a terrorist group with no context will now be immediately blocked from using Live for a set period of time,” Rosen further wrote.

The decision comes after a lone gunman shot and killed 51 people and injured several others in two mosques in Christchurch on March 15. The attacker not only killed more than 50 people but also live-streamed the entire shooting on Facebook for almost 20 minutes, before it was taken down by the social network.

Before Facebook could the video down, it had been reuploaded millions of times by other users on Facebook, news channels and other social media platforms, despite the best efforts of tech companies to take it off the internet. Facebook had said that it removed 1.5 Mn videos related to the attack in the first 24 hours.

“Facebook’s decision to put limits on live streaming is a good first step to restrict the application being used as a tool for terrorists and shows the Christchurch Call is being acted on,” NZ prime minister Ardern told news agency Reuters

Facebook is also collaborating with The University of Maryland, Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley to study manipulation of images, audio and video.