Facebook has come under mounting pressure to address questions and concerns about its policies toward live video, particularly after people used the site’s ”Live” tool to stream footage of deadly shootings in the U.S. this week. The company offered a fuller statement about its policies on live video in a post on Friday.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company said that live video can be a powerful window into the best parts of people’s lives, as well as the worst events, and can be an important tool for documenting a crisis or asking for help.
“We understand the unique challenges of live video,” Facebook said in its post, adding that it is easy for users to report live videos for review or removal and that Facebook has an on-call team staffed at all times, which it said responds to reports immediately. “We know it’s important to have a responsible approach.”
“The rules for live video are the same for all the rest of our content,” the post continued. “A reviewer can interrupt a live stream if there is a violation of our Community Standards.”
Facebook said any user can report a live video, and it only takes one report for content to be reviewed. When users share violent or graphic images through Facebook Live, the company said “context and degree are everything.” A user’s Facebook Live video documenting a shooting to raise awareness or identify a shooter, for example, would not be removed. However, if a user shared the same video to celebrate the shooting or mock the victim, Facebook would remove the video, the company said.
