By Sam Schechner
PARIS -- Facebook Inc. said Wednesday it would bar people who
post or share terrorist propaganda from broadcasting live video on
its service, after the streaming feature was used to broadcast the
assault in March on mosques in New Zealand.
The step is the company's most concrete response yet to pressure
to restrict use of the feature following the attack in Christchurch
that killed 51 people. But the change disappointed some who
demanded stronger measures.
Facebook's new policy is part of a package of commitments from
governments and tech companies, dubbed the "Christchurch Call,"
aimed at stemming the tide of extremist content on the internet
The three-page document, released Wednesday after its adoption
by countries including France, New Zealand, Canada, the U.K.,
Jordan and Indonesia, presents a series of general promises to
develop policies and regulations to reduce the use of internet
services for disseminating extremist content -- without undermining
free expression online.
The White House on Wednesday said it agreed with the
"overarching message of the call" but wasn't "currently in a
position to join the endorsement." The U.S. has long resisted
putting government limits on expression, and instead has encouraged
tech companies to do more themselves.
In that vein, the document offers several commitments from
online providers including Facebook, Twitter Inc. and Alphabet
Inc.'s Google, owner of YouTube. Among them is to immediately
implement measures to reduce the risk that anyone can use
live-streaming to broadcast extremist content.
A Facebook spokeswoman said such a restriction would have
prevented the alleged shooter in the mosque attacks in March from
using his Facebook account to live stream the action.
Critics, however, said Facebook's new policy isn't sufficient to
prevent bad actors from live streaming violence on its platform.
The response highlights the difficulty governments and technology
firms face in agreeing to concrete measures relating to even a
relatively noncontroversial issue like blocking terrorist
propaganda.
"The strong feeling in New Zealand is 'This is not good
enough'," said Alistair Knott, an associate professor of computer
science at the University of Otago. "Even if you've been bad and
you're on some list, you can just get another Facebook account.
It's the easiest thing in the world."
Mr. Knott said a requirement that Facebook users apply for a
license to post live video would be more effective at screening out
those interested in broadcasting violence.
The Christchurch Call commitments also address, albeit briefly,
a broader criticism that some researchers have leveled against tech
companies: that their products, which are designed to maximize the
time spent using them by providing content tailored to their
interests, have the effect of channeling users toward more
polarizing content.
The online firms have also committed to "review the operation of
algorithms that may drive users toward and/or amplify terrorist and
violent extremist content." They said they would explore ways to
redirect users from extremist content toward alternatives, dubbed
counter-narratives -- something with which they have
experimented
Facebook said ahead of Wednesday's publication of the
Christchurch Call that it would impose a "one-strike" rule for its
streaming feature. People who have violated certain Facebook rules,
including its restrictions on posting terrorist content without
context, would be prevented from using the company's live-video
streaming feature to broadcast to anyone else on Facebook for a
limited time, for instance 30 days.
"Following the horrific terrorist attacks in New Zealand, we've
been reviewing what more we can do to limit our services from being
used to cause harm or spread hate," Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice
president for integrity, said in a blog post.
Facebook's move follows that of YouTube to restrict its
live-streaming feature to users who have more than 1,000 users.
Live video has been a focus of concern because of several recent
incidents in which disturbing or extremist content was broadcast
live. Tech companies say it is more difficult for them to detect
what is going on in live streams, as opposed to still images or
previously recorded video.
The practices of tech companies are under growing pressure on a
number of fronts. The European Union, which has one of the world's
most comprehensive privacy laws, recently passed a copyright
directive that imposes new restrictions and obligations on big
internet companies. After several investigations into whether tech
giants are violating competition rules, some politicians are
calling for them to be broken up. And a number of countries -- most
recently France -- have proposed tough new rules for how
social-media firms police hate speech and cyberbullying on their
platforms.
Curbing terrorist content -- including propaganda, recruitment
videos and material depicting attacks -- has been less
controversial because it is easier to draw a line around what
should be removed. Facebook and Google both have automated tools to
detect Islamic State content, for instance. Nevertheless, within
the EU, the G-7 and other international venues, tech companies have
come under pressure to do more to speed up removal of such
content,
The Christchurch Call is a joint venture of New Zealand Prime
Minister Jacinda Ardern following the mosque attacks in her country
and French President Emmanuel Macron, who added it to a broader
summit with tech executives he is hosting on Wednesday. Organizers
have met with experts on multiple continents to figure out how to
limit the spread of terror content after Facebook left footage of
the Christchurch attack online for nearly an hour
-- Jon Emont in Hong Kong contributed to this article
Write to Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 15, 2019 13:53 ET (17:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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