Livestreaming seemed like a good use of technology, where it allowed anyone to share footage live as it happens. This has aided so many people in a variety of fields, but unfortunately it also means that it is open to be abused, such as was the case with the recent shootings in New Zealand where the shooter livestreamed his attack.So much so that according to a report from the Australian Financial Review (via Kotaku Australia), Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for livestreaming to be suspended across all platforms due to tech companies’ inability to respond more effectively to such situations.
According to Morrison, “In the past, they have suspended this sort of Facebook live-streaming, and assurances were given that when it was put back up it could avoid this.” He adds, “There is very real discussions that have to be had about how these facilities and capabilities, as they exist on social media, can continue to be offered where there can’t be the assurances given at a technology level. Once these images get out there, it is very difficult to prevent them.”
In the wake of the shootings, Facebook had to play a game of whack-a-mole simply because people were uploading the footage despite it getting taken down. According to Facebook, after 24 hours they managed to remove 1.5 million videos.
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