Facebook volte-face will see decapitation videos purged from site
Facebook has pledged to remove all video footage of people being decapitated, after previously refusing to ban such content, following fierce campaigning from charities and internal ructions on its own safety advisory board.
Previously the social network had said its users had a right to depict the ‘world in which we live’ but has now conceded defeat on the issue and will adopt a more robust approach to graphic violence.
This comes in the wake of criticism from the Family Online Safety Institute which said footage of captives having their heads chopped off ‘crossed a line’.
In recent weeks a number of clips have been uploaded to the site from Mexico; including one of a woman being beheaded by a masked man and two alleged drug smugglers being attacked by a chainsaw and knife.
Many users had flagged up this content for moderation but Facebook initially responded: “People are sharing this video on Facebook to condemn it. Just as TV news programmes often show upsetting images of atrocities, people can share upsetting videos on Facebook to raise awareness of actions or causes.
"While this video is shocking, our approach is designed to preserve people's rights to describe, depict and comment on the world in which we live."
In a significant U-turn however Facebook now say: “We will remove instances of these videos that are reported to us while we evaluate our policy and approach to this type of content.”