Social media faces scrutiny after New Zealand attacks

Social media giants, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, are facing new criticism after they struggled to block livestreamed footage of a gunman shooting worshippers at a mosque in New Zealand.

The episode saw users uploading and sharing clips from the disturbing 17-minute livestream faster than social media companies could remove them.

The companies were already under scrutiny over the rise in online extremist content, but Friday’s troubling incident also underscored big tech’s difficulties in rooting out violent content as crises unfold in real time.

In a live point-of-view video uploaded to Facebook on Friday, the killer shot dozens of mosquegoers, at one point going back to his car to stock up on weapons.

New Zealand police said the footage, which captured only part of the attack on two separate mosques that left 49 people dead and more than 40 injured, was “extremely distressing” and asked people to refuse to share it.

Critics pounced on tech companies, accusing them of failing to get ahead of the violent video spreading.