Facebook Live, Where Murder Is Broadcast in Real Time

Antonio Perkins' murder was apparently broadcast live
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2016 7:03 AM CDT
Facebook Live, Where Murder Is Broadcast in Real Time
This is a still taken from video released June 14, 2015, by Islamic State's Amaq news agency. Amaq says it's a video of Larossi Abballa, the suspect in the knifing of a French police couple, confessing to the killings.   (Islamic State's Amaq News Agency via AP)

Lately, logging on to your favorite social media site has gotten a little more gruesome than watching videos of your friends' kids or pets: With Facebook Live allowing people to broadcast live video to followers, Facebook users were recently privy to the apparent live killing of one Chicago man and the shooting and injuring of another, Quartz reports. Then French ISIS sympathizer Larossi Abballa, who had just killed a cop and the cop's romantic partner last Monday night, went on Facebook Live to chillingly discuss what to do with the couple's 3-year-old boy, CNN reported last week. The 25-year-old also threatened attacks against the Euro 2016 soccer tournament, urging supporters to "turn the Euro into a graveyard," the Guardian reports.

Facebook quickly deleted Abballa's 12-minute video, but it left up the video of Chicago resident Antonio Perkins, the gang member seemingly murdered on Facebook Live last Wednesday (he was pronounced dead that evening). The reason? Facebook decries the glorification of violence, it says, but it will allow material that increases awareness. The social media giant also says it's boosting staff to review videos in real time so they don't have to rely on user feedback. "We do understand and recognize that there are unique challenges when it comes to content and safety for Live videos," says a Facebook rep. "It's a serious responsibility, and we work hard to strike the right balance between enabling expression while providing a safe and respectful experience." (More Facebook stories.)

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