Facebook, Twitter and Youtube delete videos of Abe’s assassination
Shortly after the fatal assassination attempt on Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, videos of the attack were circulating on social media. The platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, are now removing the recordings.
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London.Social media platforms have begun removing footage of the deadly assassination attempt on former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Twitter, the Facebook parent company Meta and other providers justified their actions on Friday with violations of rules for harmful content.
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Various footage of the attack by the gunman, who shot Abe twice with a homemade double-barrelled gun, circulated on the networks. Some only showed the moments before and after the shots, while others showed both shots.
Abe, who resigned as prime minister in 2020, was shot in the back shortly after beginning a speech in the western city of Nara. He was flown to a hospital and later pronounced dead. The suspected shooter was arrested at the scene.
Twitter asks to report questionable material
Twitter said officials are working to address “harmful content” related to the attack by “proactively” removing material that violates the platform’s rules. This includes restrictions on sensitive media content, for example due to violence.
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Twitter appealed to users to report potentially questionable material about the attack so that action can be taken. However, videos of the attack were still easy to find in the short message service hours after the assassination.
Suspect’s Facebook and Twitter accounts banned
Meta said it was deleting videos showing the moment of the attack. In addition, the suspect’s Facebook and Twitter accounts have been blocked. “We are deeply saddened and shocked by the death of former Prime Minister of Japan Mr. Shinzo Abe,” Meta said. “We do not – and will not – tolerate violent behavior on our platform. To keep our platform a safe place to connect, we are working to remove any offending content related to the incident,” it said.
Meta said it was acting under its Dangerous Individuals guidelines and is labeling photos of the attack as “disturbing”.
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YouTube said its systems preferred videos related to the attack from “reliable sources” such as the media. Content that violated the rules of the video platform would be removed. Tiktok said the company is working to quickly identify content, accounts and hashtags related “to this tragic incident” and to remove any content and accounts that violated the rules.