Facebook Explains Why It Initially Took Down The Police Shooting Live Video Last Week

After media criticisms of Facebook taking down the Philando Castile fatal shooting by a Police officer, Facebook released an official statement on Friday generally talking about being new to Live on a global scale and community guidelines. Facebook had said the video was taken down due to a technical glitch. But analysts believe it was initially taken down because of a high number of users reporting that the content contained graphic footage, Some even believe the Police actually requested Facebook to take it down. Whatever the case, you would have to accept that you want to view the video to watch it.

“The rules for live video are the same for all the rest of our content. A reviewer can interrupt a live stream if there is a violation of our Community Standards. Anyone can report content to us if they think it goes against our standards, and it only takes one report for something to be reviewed.

One of the most sensitive situations involves people sharing violent or graphic images of events taking place in the real world. In those situations, context and degree are everything. For instance, if a person witnessed a shooting, and used Facebook Live to raise awareness or find the shooter, we would allow it. However, if someone shared the same video to mock the victim or celebrate the shooting, we would remove the video.”

Social media has not been a tool only for connecting with friends world over but a force for political protests. The Arab spring was largely “successful” because users were able to post and share stuff online which allowed them to re-group and report plans by government to clamp down on them. Egypt even arrested and later released Wael Ghonim;  a Google executive who added his voice to the protests.

It’s important Facebook addresses this now as this could could change the minds of people on how they use Facebook Live for similar incidents in future.