If you pay attention to the news in any capacity. You likely have heard about Alton Sterling, or Philando Castile or the “peaceful” protest that turned deadly in Dallas, Texas, all in the past week. Facebook was in the middle of this – at least when it came to Castile – because it was live streamed on Facebook, for everyone to see what was going on. Now later in the week, it was said that the Police forced Facebook to remove the video, then later on Facebook said that they removed it due to the graphic nature. There’s been a lot of confusion lately, in regards to these shootings and Facebook Live video being removed. So Facebook decided to clear the air in a blog post on Friday evening.
In the post, Facebook noted that “the rules for live video are the same for all the rest of our content”. They continued to state that viewers are able to report the video, during the live stream, as inappropriate, or if it is in violation of their Community Standards. They also iterated that it only takes one report for something to get reviewed, which is all it should take. Facebook also talked about what instances they’d allow, when it comes to live streaming a crime. Stating “if a person witnessed a shooting, and used Facebook Live to raise awareness or find the shooter, we would allow it.” They did also note that if someone uses Facebook Live to “mock the victim or celebrate the shooting”, then they would remove it. Seeing as that is against their Community Standards.
It’s important to remember that we now have the tools to instantly broadcast just about anything to the entire world. All from our smartphone. Thanks to platforms like Facebook Live, Snapchat, Periscope and so much more. And this is why we are seeing more and more acts of violence on these social networks, because everyone has a camera and the internet in their hand. While you should probably be helping the victim who has been shot, recording what happened or is happening, can be a bigger help. As it can be used as evidence to put the criminal behind bars, or help law enforcement to get the full story of what happened. Either way, if you have any questions about waht Facebook is talking about here, feel free to hit up their post, which is linked down below.