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Tech expert addresses social media's role in terror attack

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Sun, 12 May 2019, 12:03PM
Video of the terror attack has been shared on Facebook and YouTube. (Photo / Getty)

Tech expert addresses social media's role in terror attack

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Sun, 12 May 2019, 12:03PM

Technology expert Paul Stenhouse says that it is "sick" that the Christchurch terror attack was live-streamed. 

49 people are confirmed to have been killed in two separate shootings at mosques in Christchurch.

One of these attacks was live-streamed on social media.

While it has been taken down, Stenhouse told Jack Tame it is impossible to remove every file. 

"The trouble is people download this stuff and then re-upload. It's like playing a game of whack-a-mole." 

Currently, sites like Facebook and YouTube monitor their own video channels. 

Stenhouse says that self-regulation has not worked, but it may not be possible for these sites to be fully monitored. 

"These platforms are so big that I don't even know if regulation would work."

He says that there is so much content on these sites that he struggles to see how they can be controlled. 

Stenhouse says Facebook only has 7,500 moderators, and many of them are contractors who have to deal with some of the most vile content on the internet. 

"They aren't getting benefits, they aren't getting support. A friend of mine used to work as a comment moderator on YouTube, and he saw horrible things." 

He thinks that some of these media companies made need to be seen more as content providers and be held to stricter standards. 

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