Two Videos Tell Us About Facebook and the World

Video One: On 15 March 2019, a right-wing bigot posted a video of his massacre of 50 innocents in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Video Two: On 15 March 2019, a proud father posted a video of his teenage son’s singing performance at a pub in England.

Facebook eventually shut down Video One but not before it was watched, commented on, and shared by hundreds of thousands of people. Facebook shut down Video Two within an hour after it seen by a whopping ten people.

I know about Video One because it was mentioned on every news outlet in the world. I know about Video Two because I am one of the administrators of the Facebook page on which that video was posted. (I did not post the video.)

It is difficult to imagine that anyone would disagree with Facebook taking down the video of a mass murder, the reasons for the removal of Video One being obvious. Facebook says the reason it almost immediately removed Video Two was because “the video might contain music that belongs to [a major record label].”

What does this say about Facebook and the world?

About Facebook, it says that the corporation has in place automation that quickly bans videos that might contain music that a music corporation might own but that the corporation does not have automation…