US Committee Hits Facebook And Pals With A Please-Explain

The recriminations are just beginning in what is expected to be a long process to try to prevent another live video incident like the one following the New Zealand mosque shootings.

The US House Homeland Security Committee has called on tech leaders to explain how the violent video spread on their platforms.

Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and YouTube have been called to front the committee on March 27 to explain how they handled the video’s dramatic online spread.

Social media sites scrambled to remove copied versions of the alleged shooter’s video that kept popping up on their platforms.

Some users were able to override automatic screens by altering the video, forcing YouTube to take unprecedented steps to reduce its spread.

The failure of the sites to act quickly has sparked worldwide outrage and calls for greater regulation of the Internet in general.

The committee said that, if the issue of toxic and violent ideologies is not addressed, Congress will consider policies to ensure that terrorist content is not distributed on the platforms.