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Netsafe slams decision to share kitten abuse video

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Wed, 13 Dec 2017, 12:19PM
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Netsafe slams decision to share kitten abuse video

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Wed, 13 Dec 2017, 12:19PM

Netsafe is warning people to leave the punishment to the authorities over upsetting viral videos.

That's the message for those considering taking action into their own hands against a group of children who stoned a kitten to death.

Police are making enquiries into the footage showing a kitten being bludgeoned to death by a group of children.

The sickening footage has been posted on animal rights group Pawjustice's Facebook page, leading to numerous posts about vigilante justice.

READ MORE: Police investigating after video shared of kitten being stoned

While Netsafe agreed the actions captured in the footage was horrific, chief executive Martin Cocker believed sharing the video had put the girl's life in danger.

He said there's no excuse for people to abuse or harass people.

"Just the impact of the online abuse might be quite harmful. We don't know anything about the mental state of the person who produced it and what their particular vulnerability might be."

"People shouldn't be exposed to that kind of content. The actions shown in the video should never have been undertaken either but the video shouldn't have been shared," he told the NZ Herald.

 

"That doesn't give people an excuse to abuse or harass that person. If that video is offensive than that is for certain authorities to take action on, not the public."

He noted the numerous threats of violence against the girl named in comments, paired with numerous posts sharing the address and phone number of the girl people believed was involved. In combination, he said this was "concerning".

"If you put a video like that out there, you know that people are going to be motivated to find the person involved and get justice."

While Cocker said it was understandable that Paw Justice was outraged at what the video showed, he suggested the best response was to report it.

"If you come across that kind of content you can report it to police or to Netsafe.

"You cross a line when you identify anyone involved in something like that, or make threats towards them."

He also said this was a "fairly predictable" outcome from sharing that kind of content.

- additional reporting, NZ Herald

 

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