Lately there have been increased reports of bullying, violence and murder being streamed live from or posted to Facebook, while innocent photos are taken down.
It continues to astound me that Facebook could give the OK to spread these heinous videos and yet take down non-rule-breaking images of breastfeeding mothers for reports of nudity. The hypocrisy of its regulations is staggering.
Most of the United States has heard of the tragic death of 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr.
In a Facebook video, Steve Stephens, 37, shows himself murdering Godwin for seemingly no reason.
The video was posted to Facebook around 2 p.m. on the day of the murder and wasn’t taken down until later that evening.
By that point the video had been viewed thousands of times. It was because of the lack of Facebook security that the video was not caught sooner. Facebook shouldn’t allow such gruesome content to stay up for so long.
Another case of regulatory failure occurred earlier this year — Facebook had to remove another heinous post in which a young man was beaten and tortured during a live Facebook video. The disturbing video lasted for half an hour before it finally ended and was not removed until after the live stream was finished.
Facebook responded to this event by saying, “We do not allow people to celebrate or glorify crimes on Facebook and have removed the original video for this reason. In many instances, though, when people share this type of content, they are doing so to condemn violence or raise awareness about it. In that case, the video would be allowed.”
While these videos are dubiously protected in order to “raise awareness,” Facebook can’t even follow its own policy on breastfeeding photos.
Though Facebook’s rules were amended in 2014 to allow these posts, numerous incidents have occurred since where pictures are removed because of public nudity reports. There seem to be no good rules for content regulation, and the ones that do exist aren’t routinely followed.
Users have yet to see if Facebook stays true to its promise and buckles down on consistency and sensibility where needed, but for the safety of all Facebook users I hope they stay true to their word and make Facebook a safer place.
kkmeier@umail.iu.edu
