Facebook Live restrictions, updated content detection system, announced following New Zealand Christchurch shooting

Facebook announced new restrictions to its Facebook Live on Wednesday, the changes arriving in response to the New Zealand terror attack in March. The company also announced investment and partnerships with academic institutions to tackle manipulated media on its platforms.

Both Facebook and YouTube faced huge criticism after a man streamed a terror attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Guy Rosen, Facebook’s Vice President Integrity announced “a ‘one strike’ policy to Live in connection with a broader range of offenses” Wednesday. He said that “anyone who violates our most serious policies will be restricted from using Live for set periods of time.” For example, those sharing terror-related content might face a 30-day ban.

Rosen also stated that the restrictions will be applied to other areas of Facebook in the near future. This will include stopping those restricted from using Facebook Live from buying ads.

In addition to the Facebook Live policy changes, the company announced investment and research partnerships to address manipulated media. This includes variations of the Christchurch shooting tat appeared on Facebook and other platforms in the days following the event. Rosen stated that Facebook’s systems had struggled to detect this media when it surfaced.

Facebook announced a partnership with The University of Maryland, Cornell University and The University of California, Berkeley. Academics will research new techniques to detect manipulated media across images, video, and audio, Furthermore, they will research distinguishing between those that share such content unwittingly and those who deliberately manipulate videos and photographs. It revealed a $7.5 million into the research partnerships.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via The Mac Observer