Will streaming services stop offering "IRL" streams due to murders and suicides?

**syllabic** · 2017-04-28, 01:00 AM

Facebook just had another person get murdered on stream, in Canada this time. On one hand, it's probably making the cops' jobs easier when you upload a video of your crime to the internet. On the other hand, it seems like the only times I hear about facebook streaming are when someone either commits suicide or murder. It gives people an easy shortcut to notoriety, and some people will take that. Even if the only way they can get there is by doing something pretty awful.

At some point the argument will be made that video streaming services like facebook or twitch IRL incentivize people to either kill themselves or others. Whether or not you agree with that statement I don't think facebook will see it as worth the risk and will pull the service. If the service lasts long enough we're eventually going to see school shootings streamed on facebook live and it is going to be immensely controversial. Facebook is probably the only one that matters in this instance, since it's so ubiquitous and there's no requirements to sign up.

**ohiostate124** · 2017-04-28, 01:03 AM

On one hand, these people may have committed these crimes anyway and now there's video evidence of it. On the other hand, it could make psychos do more to get on tv.

**dcschess05** · 2017-04-28, 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by syllabic

Facebook just had another person get murdered on stream, in Canada this time. On one hand, it's probably making the cops' jobs easier when you upload a video of your crime to the internet. On the other hand, it seems like the only times I hear about facebook streaming are when someone either commits suicide or murder. It gives people an easy shortcut to notoriety, and some people will take that. Even if the only way they can get there is by doing something pretty awful.

At some point the argument will be made that video streaming services like facebook or twitch IRL incentivize people to either kill themselves or others. Whether or not you agree with that statement I don't think facebook will see it as worth the risk and will pull the service. If the service lasts long enough we're eventually going to see school shootings streamed on facebook live and it is going to be immensely controversial. Facebook is probably the only one that matters in this instance, since it's so ubiquitous and there's no requirements to sign up.

I don't see how it has to be a live streaming service to achieve notoriety. You can get the same effect by recording your actions and uploading it to the internet... For suicides, notoriety does nothing for you anyways. The news is going to treat it the same way, and it's always the VOD that gets the attention as very few people witness the live stream. Live streaming isn't the issue. What you are purposing is removing live streaming and screening every video before it is uploaded to these platforms. That isn't going to happen anytime soon IMO.

Edit - If the liability is placed on the platforms for what a user uploads, you can bet that these companies will stop hosting ALL user created content. You could argue that these platforms need to be more committed to responding to user submitted flags or reports on criminal content. The system in place now works fine IMO, as long as they contact the authorities and remove the offending material as soon as they are made aware.

To answer your question, advanced heuristics will need to be (and are being) developed to screen content and block the stuff that violates the TOS. In the mean time everyone needs to deal with the whackos if you want to be able to watch streaming content.