THERE are important lessons that can be learnt from the brutal massacre of Muslim worshippers in New Zealand this March. As Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern co-hosted a meeting with France seeking global support to tackle online violence, one can wonder if online platforms should be equipped with the quality of self-policing.

The killing was not only being live-streamed on Facebook but was also being shared on YouTube. What is astonishing is that the content of the offending footage was available hours later.

Facebook took the biggest blow and as always vowed to make its system more secure. However, YouTube presents a more difficult scenario owing to its enormous size with hundreds of videos uploaded a minute.

Regulating and moderating content will also affect an individual’s right to free speech. After all, YouTube hosts a platform for everyone, including gamers, make-up artists, home cooks and budding musicians.

But it will be unfair to ignore the series of scandals around user-generated content that encourages hate speech and hate groups. Algorithms that boost ‘screen time’ by engaging and inviting the viewer to watch more extreme videos is where the problem begins.

It is not helpful to ban a social media platform like that in Sri Lanka after the April bombings. Instead, the government should help regulate the online industry by listing the type of hate-based content that should be banned — whether it is beheading videos or conspiracy theories like the flat Earthers.

Attention also needs to be given to the method for implementing the enforcement of restrictions. Perhaps artificial intelligence can be made use of which can easily spot the key words and delete malicious content accordingly. There will be mistakes along the way as we are still traversing the infancy of the digital age.

Barrister Dr Mobeen Shah

United Kingdom

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2019