Nearly half a day since news broke of the vicious terrorist attack that took place at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand—a massacre that the gunman livestreamed—footage of the massacre is still appearing on major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube and some major news outlets are still posting clips or screenshots despite requests by authorities not to do so and widespread global condemnation aimed at anyone sharing the gruesome and disturbing images.
Sharing violent video and images from the #Christchurch mosque shooting is precisely what the terrorists wanted people to do. It’s free advertising for their hate. #NewZealand — Christian Christensen (@ChrChristensen) March 15, 2019 Please respect requests not to share footage of the Christchurch shootings. Aside from being distressing to loved ones, it is giving power to terrorists. It’s also why we shouldn’t share hostage videos, beheadings etc. These extremists use media, the public to gain traction. https://t.co/ix8rwYUVij — Sumisha Naidu (@sumishanaidu) March 15, 2019
With brutal and horrific footage taken by the person who carried out a vicious terrorist attack on worshipers at a mosque in Christchurch circulating online in the wake of Friday's massacre, a global call is going out to media outlets, social media platforms, and people of good conscience not to view, share, air, or otherwise perpetuate the video in whole or in part.
As Anne Vidot, a journalist with ABC Canberra in Australia, declared in a post to Twitter:
Don't do it. Don't share the #Christchurch footage. Don't even go looking for the footage. Don't disrespect the dignity of the victims and grief of their loved ones. Don't give this horrific human, intent on murder and terror and destruction, what he wants. Don't do it. — Anna Vidot (@AnnaVidot) March 15, 2019
While news outlets reported on the existence of the footage, many people on social media were posting clips and some major television outlets were also reportedly airing portions of the video. Based on online complaints, though it could not be independently confirmed, it appears that Sky News Australia was among the possible outlets that may have aired footage.
Social media platforms like Twitter—where segments of the footage were popping into people's feeds without warning—were also being called on to remove all clips:
Hey @Twitter please remove any tweets with #ChristChurch head cam footage ASAP out of respect for the dead, their communities, and for the sake of the mental health of your users. Blatant murder is graphic, explicit, and can be traumatic to see. Even if it’s only a few seconds. — Khadeja (@Khad3ja) March 15, 2019 WARNING: how to turn off auto play on videos in settings. the #christchurch shooter livestreamed the shooting and the videos are going around twitter & are highly disturbing. Settings>Data usage>Video autoplay>Never pic.twitter.com/h9C4lJG4Tx — mal (@pjmkwan) March 15, 2019
Law enforcement, meanwhile, urged the public not to share any videos and said they were working on having it taken down wherever they could:
Police are aware there is extremely distressing footage relating to the incident in Christchurch circulating online. We would strongly urge that the link not be shared. We are working to have any footage removed. — New Zealand Police (@nzpolice) March 15, 2019
Vidot, meanwhile was hardly alone in her demand that internet users, media outlets, and online platforms do everything possible to suppress the video while also villifying the motivations and the person behind Friday's massacre.
Sayanythingforupvote on March 15th, 2019 at 19:58 UTC »
People didn't understand the horrors of war until the invention of photography, it brought the conflict into their living room. Just something to think about.
Rick2990 on March 15th, 2019 at 17:21 UTC »
The man who heroically charged him and knocked him down before being killed should be remembered.
DeewaTT on March 15th, 2019 at 16:56 UTC »
The scariest thing about it to me was how casual he was about it.