Last Friday, both Facebook’s town square and private living room functions played vital roles in allowing a mass murderer to plan his activity, communicate privately with like-minded individuals, live-stream his attacks, and amplify the terror he sought to create. RICKY WILSON/STUFF At a vigil for Christchurch mosque victims in Blenheim, Fadia Muhssen is hugged. That could help shift the dial on the global response required to force social media companies to acknowledge that they are not just neutral, blameless 'platforms', but are publishers in their own right. Facebook in New Zealand, for example, has filed no financial returns to the Companies Office since August 2015, despite foreign-owned companies normally being required to do so. Before last Friday, that was no more than the generally outrageous shenanigans we’ve come to expect from borderless tech firms.

Source: Stuff March 20, 2019 16:02 UTC