Facebook says it deleted 1.5 million uploads of the video that shows the deadly mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand last week.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram scrambled to remove the videos after Australian gunman Brenton Tarrant live-streamed the attack at al-Noor mosque that killed 49 people. A 50th victim later died at a hospital.
Facebook said 1.5 million videos were deleted. Facebook also removed 1.2 million versions of the video that did not show violence.
Facebook said it removed the videos out of respect to those affected and over “concerns of local authorities.”
The gunman streamed over 17 minutes of violence on Facebook before the live-stream was cut and his page was deleted.
Tarrant also posted a link to Facebook Live on hacker website 8Chan, where copies of the full video still proliferate in dozens of threads.
The video was also reposted on Reddit.com, which quickly banned 2 popular subgroups: r/watchpeopledie and r/gore.
There are growing calls for Facebook to eliminate live-streaming from its platform.
Bloomberg.com reported that New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Arden, is in talks with Facebook over the live-streaming broadcasts.
In the 1st minute of the live-stream video, the gunman says, “Remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie.”
The YouTube star, whose videos have been viewed over 20 billion times, said he was “sickened” to hear Tarrant mentioned his name prior to the shooting rampage.
“Just heard news of the devastating reports from New Zealand Christchurch,” PewDiePie tweeted on March 15. “I feel absolutely sickened having my name uttered by this person. My heart and thoughts go out to the victims, families and everyone affected by this tragedy.”
PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, started out as a gaming commentator on YouTube. He currently has 89 million subscribers to his channel which earns millions of dollars a year from advertising.
