The horrifying images of a thirty-year-old holding his father’s decapitated head in his hands remained online for several hours on YouTube and X before finally being removed, radicalization experts have denounced, calling on social networks for greater vigilance.
“This is another example of the blatant failure of these companies to protect us. We can’t trust them to grade their own homework,” said Alix Fraser, director of the Council for Responsible Social Media at the nonprofit Issue One, according to CBS News on Thursday.
Pennsylvania police on Wednesday arrested Justin Mohn, 32, who was charged with first-degree murder after sharing a 14-minute video on YouTube on Tuesday showing him abusing his father’s headless body. Michael, at their home in Bucks County.
But even if the content undoubtedly “violated YouTube’s graphic violence policy,” the footage would have remained publicly available for about five hours, according to Middletown Township Police Capt. Pete Feeney, raising serious questions about moderation on social networks, according to the American media.
What’s more, shortly after midnight, the Global Internet Forum to Combat Terrorism, a group created by technology companies to prevent the distribution of these types of videos online, reportedly alerted nearly two dozen platforms to restrict the video.
Despite this, on Wednesday morning, the images made their way to the X platform, where they circulated for at least seven hours reaching more than 20,000 clicks, again according to the American media.
While many social networks rely largely on automated systems to remove content, artificial intelligence (AI) would still remain fallible when images of violence are presented in new or unusual ways, said Brian Fishman, co-founder of security technology startup Cinder.
“AI is getting better, but it’s not at that level yet,” he said, according to CBS News.
In the third quarter of 2023, YouTube would have deleted more than 8.1 million videos from its platform, 95% of which would have been flagged by automated systems, according to data obtained by the American media.
However, this type of incident should raise a red flag among social networks, which must be more vigilant, insisted Jacob Ware, researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“The reality is that social media has become a frontline against extremism and terrorism. It will require more serious and more committed control efforts,” he added.
