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When 33-year-old U.S. Army veteran Ronnie McNutt died by suicide on Facebook Live, the video remained online long enough to continue to circulate across various platforms. McNutt fired a fatal shot that ended up being captured on camera as he spent time chatting via live-stream. It then remained online hours after the incident occurred. This gave it plenty of time to make the rounds on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. As a result, it went viral as McNutt's friends and family watched helplessly.
Social media platforms have been locked in a contentious battle with users who have challenged rules about misinformation, violence, and hate speech online for some time. It isn't a problem localized to Facebook, but harmful content tends to remain accessible by viewers much longer than it should. This ranges from violent or sexual content that varies in severity – and it's a problem that doesn't seem to be getting resolved anytime soon.
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The suicide footage was broadcast on Facebook Live on August 31. Facebook did not immediately remove it. In fact, when McNutt's friend Josh Steen requested its removal, Facebook stated it did not breach the company's Community Standards, despite displaying explicit footage of the aftermath of McNutt's rifle-induced wounds. Though McNutt died by suicide around 10:30 pm and Steen immediately flagged the stream before the incident occurred, he didn't hear back until 11:51 pm from the platform. The video was allowed to remain. However, Facebook insisted the video was removed "shortly" after in a comment to VICE News.
As users took video footage of the suicide and shared it across the internet to platforms like TikTok, the clip continued to make the rounds. Some users even posted reaction clips and commentary about the occurrence. It's easy to see Facebook is at least partially at fault for the spread. Because Facebook initially refused to remove the suicide video, that allowed more and more Facebook users not only to stumble across and share the video, but to create memes and hateful content. The longer it remained on Facebook, the easier it was to continue allowing users to download the video, chop it up, and continue posting it.
The video continues to be shared on TikTok as users comment in other videos, embed footage, or simply post the clip without any warning. TikTok has also been slow to take action, despite larger content creators doing their part to warn users of what to look for to avoid seeing the clip. Still, despite TikTok's supposed account bans and policing, there are clips that fall through the cracks. Users of all ages have now been exposed to the video, which could have been mitigated had Facebook taken action sooner.
McNutt's friend Steen has responded in kind by starting the #ReformForRonnie initiative that demands social media companies be held accountable for the content spread on their platforms. It also asks that the systemic problem Steen describes with Facebook's complete lack of policing and enforcing its terms of service be resolved. It isn't a cure-all, but it could be a step in the right direction for change when it comes to social media giants. For now, it cannot be denied that Facebook played a large role in propagating a community's pain, all due to lack of action.
More: TikTok Removed 380,000 Hateful Videos In The US In 2020, Banned 1,300 Accounts
Source: VICE News
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