Facebook changes stance on violent videos again

Under massive fire from users and human rights groups alike, Facebook has yet again reversed its stance on videos depicting gory acts like beheading. After reports that Facebook is now allowing users to share violent videos, only for the purpose of condemning these acts, the social networking website is going back to the no-beheading policy.

It had been reported days ago that Facebook seemed to have quietly overturned its policy of not allowing violent videos, especially those released by terrorist organisations killing innocent victims. According to a statement by Facebook, you could post these videos and share them, but only of you were condemning the acts being performed in the videos and not glorifying the crime.

Careful what you share

Of course, there is a very thin line over gory videos that can be crossed easily, especially when the topic can be divisive. It would be hard for Facebook to keep a track on whether the context of the video is condemning or not. Besides this, AllThingsD reports, the move caused quite a ripple amongst child protection and online safety groups, forcing Facebook to change its stance again.

It has been noted now that Facebook has pulled off a graphic video that depicts a beheading that had been carried out in Mexico. In a statement, Facebook says that it considers the video in question to "improperly and irresponsibly glorify violence." The statement went on, “People turn to Facebook to share their experiences and to raise awareness about issues important to them. Sometimes, those experiences and issues involve graphic content that is of public interest or concern, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism, and other violence. When people share this type of graphic content, it is often to condemn it. If it is being shared for sadistic pleasure or to celebrate violence, Facebook removes it.”

The statement explained that Facebook takes a very holistic look at the content flagged for it to review and removes such that celebrate violence. It also considers whether the content has been shared along with a warning and with age-appropriate audiences. Therefore, Facebook ended up yanking the beheading video from the website. This will stand for now on Facebook, so when you’re sharing graphic videos, you need to make sure of how you do so.