You have stood behind me in my fight to get the video of my daughter Alison’s murder off of platforms like Facebook and YouTube. My daughter was a journalist who was killed on live television in 2015. Ever since that day, the video of her murder has continued to be uploaded and shared to YouTube and Facebook, and even more astounding, those companies make revenue off of violent and inappropriate videos like this.
We have been asking Gray Television, the company that owns the copyright of the video of my daughter’s murder, to grant me co-copyright status of the video. The reason we need this is so that my family can legally take action against Facebook and YouTube for allowing video of Alison’s murder to be uploaded and shared on their platforms. We are not going to back down for this ask: Gray TV is going to hear from us constantly until they do what’s right and give a grieving family the ability to hold big tech accountable.
But next week our focus turns to Facebook. The company has been in the news constantly over the last few weeks since a whistleblower went public describing how Facebook monetizes and grows from inappropriate content – content like the violent video of the murder of my daughter, or misinformation about politics or health, or inappropriate photos that torment the mental health of young people, and so much more.
On Tuesday, October 12, we’ll be holding a press conference directly at the National Press Club, as we announce new steps in our efforts to hold Facebook accountable for violent videos on their platform.
We must reign in companies like Facebook and Google, which are literally making millions of dollars off of content they know is harmful, dangerous, and evil. And that includes content like the video of my daughter Alison’s murder.
Thank you for standing with us as we continue to ask companies like Facebook, Google, and Gray Television to do what is right. Your voices will be with us next week as we talk to journalists and demand action so that violent videos and inappropriate content can’t thrive on social media.