Facebook imposes restrictions on live streaming after Christchurch attack
A certain group of Facebook users who violate the rules will face live streaming restrictions. This is in response to the attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which the terrorist streamed his actions live on the platform.
Starting Wednesday, users who have violated certain Facebook rules will face a “one strike” policy at Facebook Live. This means that users who break the core rules will be banned from Live for certain periods. This can be, for example, a period of thirty days in the event of a first violation. Facebook says that from now on, if anyone posts a link to a statement from a terrorist group without providing any context, they will be immediately blocked from Live for a period of time.
According to Facebook, this is stricter than the policy that was previously applied. Until now, if anyone posted anything that violated Community Standards, their post was removed. Repeatedly, the use of Facebook was blocked in its entirety, including the use of Live. And in some cases, users were banned from the services entirely, which happened with repeated violations or serious violations, such as posting messages or content in the context of terrorist propaganda or child abuse.
The company went on to say that it struggled to detect all videos of the attack in the days following the Christchurch attack, which is believed to be due to the different versions of the videos, which were also sometimes unknowingly shared. Facebook thinks it should improve on this. To achieve that, it is investing $7.5 million in projects at several American universities that investigate how to detect manipulated media and distinguish between unconscious uploaders and those who intentionally manipulate videos and photos.
It became clear at the end of March that stricter rules would follow regarding Facebook’s Live functionality. Facebook was criticized for the way it handled and acted against the large amount of footage of the attack, in which 50 people were killed. A US congressman, among others, urged Facebook and tech companies to remove terrorist content from their platforms more quickly.