Facebook is responding to growing outrage over violent videos, many of them broadcast live--and several of them in Chicago. Now, Facebook executives are coming to the city to speak with Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.'S Rainbow Push leaders Thursday morning.
The social platform plans to hire 3,000 more people to review videos and other posts after being criticized for not responding quickly enough to murders shown on its service, the Associated Press reported. Facebook receives millions of reports each week with 4,500 screeners overseeing 2 billion users.
Chicago has seen an alarming amount of violent Facebook Live videos ranging from a special needs teen beaten in January online for thirty minutes, to a girl gang raped while 40 viewers did nothing. In February a man and a killed a 2-year-old shot to death while riding in a car.
But what happened in Cleveland recently might have been the final straw.
"When Mr. Godwin was killed on Easter Sunday, that was the straw that broke the camel's back," Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin said. "We could not take anymore."
The Cook County commissioner has joined forces with other local leaders to ask for a 30 day moratorium on live streaming from Facebook.
"There wouldn't have been action if we didn't take the first steps," he said.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg addressed the issue while briefing investors Wednesday.
"It's clear we have more to do here," Zuckerburg said. "We're going to continue building new tools to keep people safe on our platforms."
Jameka Brooks wishes someone would have stopped the video of her loved one's dead body from being live streamed earlier this year in Chicago.
"I felt that it was very disrespectful to him, his family," she said.
Boykin says violent content on Facebook is part of the larger problem of violence Chicago and beyond.
"Social media has a role to play in terms of reducing violence in Chicago and all over country," Boykin said.
Boykin says he wants to know how many of the 3,000 jobs will be in Illinois.
