The Internet Has a Serious Problem With Murder Videos
Is it ‘free expression’ to watch a video of a murder — or just a selfish, morbid curiosity?
When the Chinese student Lin Jun was murdered in May 2012, in Canada, the killer chose to record the mutilation and dismemberment of the body, and later posted it online with the title 1 Lunatic, 1 Icepick. Luka Magnotta, a failed porn actor, was arrested and charged with murder after he was identified in the video.
When a terrorist massacred 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques in March, the killer filmed the beginning of the attack and broadcast it live on Facebook. He was arrested, but the footage lived on; moderators at Facebook scrambled to remove the 1.5 million copies of the video posted the day after the attacks. On YouTube, too, uploaders deliberately edited new versions that tried to outsmart the site’s moderation algorithm, while Reddit banned a subreddit called r/watchpeopledie for hosting it.
One website that originally posted 1 Lunatic, 1 Icepick — and continues to host the Christchurch shooting video — is BestGore.com, which publishes countless images and videos of extreme violence and graphic content, including cartel beheadings, abortions, and ISIS executions. The so-called shock site was started in April 2008 by former local…
