‘Morally Bankrupt, Pathological Liars’: Facebook Slammed by New Zealand Privacy Chief
by Simon Kent
New Zealand’s top government-appointed privacy official has described Facebook as “morally bankrupt” and urged his country to follow Australia’s lead by enacting laws that could jail social media executives for allowing live streaming of violence such as was seen during the Christchurch mosque attack last month.
Privacy Commissioner John Edwards slammed Facebook’s response to a gunman using the platform to livestream some of the slaughter of 50 worshippers and the wounding of 50 more at two mosques on March 15.
ABC News reports Mr. Edwards made his comments on Monday after Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg rejected calls to introduce a delay in his livestreaming service Facebook Live, saying it would interfere with the interactivity of livestreaming and diminish the user experience.
“Facebook cannot be trusted,” wrote Mr. Edwards. “They are morally bankrupt pathological liars who enable genocide (Myanmar), facilitate foreign undermining of democratic institutions.
“[They] allow the live streaming of suicides, rapes, and murders, continue to host and publish the mosque attack video, allow advertisers to target ‘Jew haters’ and other hateful market segments, and refuse to accept any responsibility for any content or harm.
“They #dontgiveazuck” concluded Mr. Edwards. He later deleted the tweets, saying they had prompted “toxic and misinformed traffic.”
I have deleted the tweets promoting my discussion about Mark Zuckerberg’s interview because of the volume of toxic and misinformed traffic they prompted. Here is the actual conversation with @SusieFergusonNZ on @NZMorningReport https://t.co/YcCmnFvT7r
— John Edwards (@JCE_PC) April 8, 2019