Facebook announced today it will be introducing restrictions to its live streaming service, applying a 'one strike' policy, following the Christchurch terrorist attacks.
Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of product management wrote, "Following the horrific terrorist attacks in New Zealand, we've been reviewing what more we can do to limit our services from being used to cause harm or spread hate".
"As a direct result, starting today, people who have broken certain rules on Facebook... will be restricted from using Facebook Live," he said.
The March 15 killings were live streamed on Facebook.
The incident spurred Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to hold the 'Christchurch Call' in Paris with tech and world leaders to look into stopping the spread of extreme violence online.
Facebook will also invest $7.5 million into research to improve image and video analysis technology.
Technology commentator Paul Brislen says there is currently no way to stop offensive content being livestreamed.
The 'one strike' policy will see users restricted from using live streaming for a set period of time. "For instance, someone who shares a link to a statement from a terrorist group with no context will now be immediately blocked from using Live for a set period of time," Mr Rosen said.
He said a challenge after the Christchurch terrorist attack was the sharing of edited versions of the video "which made it hard for our systems to detect".
"Although we deployed a number of techniques to eventually find these variants, including video and audio matching technology, we realised that this is an area where we need to invest in further research."
It will partner with US universities to look into new techniques.
Facebook announced on March 30 it would investigate restrictions to live streaming.
In the days after the attacks, Facebook said it removed 900 edited versions of the 17-minute video.
SHARE ME