'Thousands' of Christchurch shootings videos removed from YouTube, Google says

Saturday, 16 March 2019

The Christchurch shooting spree occurred at two mosques where men, women and children were targeted.

Thousands of videos relating to a mass shooting at two Christchurch mosques have been removed from YouTube since the terror attacks occurred on Friday afternoon, Google says.

A gunman who committed the atrocities, which has so far killed 49 people and left 42 injured, filmed the shooting spree using what appeared to be a body-mounted camera, and livestreamed the footage to Facebook.

The live video was also uploaded to YouTube, owned by Google, a short time after the shooting. At least 100 people had viewed one early version of the shooting video and more than half a dozen people had left comments.

A Google spokeswoman said it had removed thousands of videos related to the incident.

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Google encouraged users to flag any videos that they believed violated its guidelines, she said.

Our hearts are broken over today’s terrible tragedy in New Zealand. Please know we are working vigilantly to remove any violent footage.

— YouTube (@YouTube) March 15, 2019

It also used smart-detection technology to identify inappropriate content, she said.

Flagged videos were quickly reviewed, and if they did violate guidelines they were removed, she said.

Facebook was also asking people to report all instances of the video circulating on social media.

The company released a statement overnight which said the mosque shootings had been designated a terrorist attack which meant any representation of the events or support for the alleged shooter would be classified as hate speech.

Facebook spokeswoman Mia Garlick said since the attack happened teams across Facebook had been working around the clock to respond to reports about the video and block content.

'We urge people to report all instances to us so our systems can block the video from being shared again,' Garlick said.

It was proactively identifying content which violated its standards, adding videos to a database which allowed it to detect copies and automatically remove copies when they were uploaded to the site.

Videos of the Christchurch shooting were still able to be viewed on facebook hours after the tragic event.

Facebook had removed the suspected shooter, Brenton Tarrant's Facebook and Instagram accounts, and the original video was removed on Friday night.

Tarrant's Twitter account was also deactivated.

Despite the tech giant's efforts horrific live footage of the Christchurch mosque shootings, apparently taken by the alleged gunman, was still circulating on Facebook on Saturday.

Simon Moutter, the chief executive of Spark: 'We decided to help protect our children and vulnerable people from these awful images'.

Facebook said in a statement it had been looking for accounts impersonating the alleged shooter, and was looking for posts alleging the shooting did not happen or that the victims were actors.

Facebook said it was working with experts and investigators about what was on other sites to understand how they may manifest on Facebook. When it found links to the video hosted on other sites it was sharing those links so the video could be deleted.

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said it was working directly with New Zealand police as their response and investigation continued.

'We must all stand united against hate and work together to fight it,' Sandberg said in a Facebook post.

On Friday a spokeswoman for Google said it would work cooperatively with the authorities regarding the shooting.

Spark spokesman Andrew Pirie said the company, Vodafone and the country's third largest internet provider Vocus had agreed to block their customers accessing three overseas websites that would not be known to most New Zealanders but which had provided access to the video.

Spark chief executive Simon Moutter tweeted on Saturday that the company's cyber security team 'has done its best overnight to stay on top of the sites distributing the horrific material from the terrorists'.

'Where they find it, they apply temporary blocks and notify the site, requesting they remove the material,' he said.

Moutter apologised to 'legitimate internet users inconvenienced'.

'This is an extreme situation… we decided to help protect our children and vulnerable people from these awful images.'

Dr Stuart Bender, an early career research fellow at Curtin University in Australia said the shooting was notable for its use of live-streaming video.

'This makes the attack a form of 'performance crime' where the act of video recording and/or streaming the violence by the perpetrator is a central component of the violence itself, rather than being incidental.'

He said the video should not be seen as a disgusting trophy for the perpetrator to re-watch later – the video is part of the violent activity itself.

'The performance crime element of this attack links it to the new era of participatory media terrorism and shows the dark side of live-streaming services.'