Facebook Officials, Chicago Leaders Working To Address Live-Streamed Violence

Facebook Officials, Chicago Leaders Working To Address Live-Streamed Violence

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Some leaders in Chicago’s black community are working with Facebook to stop violent crimes from being broadcast on the social networking site.

Several acts of violence have been streamed live on Facebook this year in Chicago, including the murder of a 2-year-old.

On Wednesday, the company announced plans to hire 3,000 more people to monitor Facebook Live and take down violent videos.

The next day, a pair of Facebook officials met with Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin and Reverend Jesse Jackson.

“We don’t want street murders to go viral, we don’t want rapes to go viral, so…that they’re hiring 3,000 people to check is a step in the right direction,” Jackson said. “That may not be enough, we don’t know.”

In April, Boykin called for a 30-day moratorium on Facebook Live. That didn’t happen, but Boykin said he’s satisfied with the social media giant’s quick response.

In a statement, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said, “We know we have a lot of work to do to keep senseless violence off our platform and we appreciated the discussion today about how to work together to achieve that goal.”

Boykin and Jackson said they plan to go to Silicon Valley next month for Facebook’s annual stockholders meeting — they hope to meet with CEO Mark Zuckerberg.