James Foley's beheading removed from Twitter, YouTube

Twitter's Dick Costolo says that images and videos of the beheading of US journalist James Foley have been removed from Twitter and posts will be monitored to remove any new postings of these gruesome pictures. YouTube has also removed the video posted on its site. Image: Twitter

The gruesome, almost five-minute-long video titled "A Message to America" surfaced on Tuesday (20 August), confronting Twitter and other online platforms with a quandry over whether to allow their sites, normally committed to free expression, to be used to propagate graphic material such as that contained in the video.

The video shows the execution of journalist James Foley by a masked militant and a warning that the group intends to kill a second captive journalist unless the United States halts air strikes in Iraq.

"We have been and are actively suspending accounts as we discover them related to this graphic imagery," Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo posted.

Images of the beheading in an open desert began disappearing on Twitter at around the same time as Costolo's message was posted.

YouTube also removed the video from its site in accordance with its policy against "violent or gory content that's primarily intended to be shocking, sensational or disrespectful."

Twitter has said it will take down photos of dead individuals if requested by family, going a step beyond its previous rules.

That followed the apparent suicide of Hollywood star Robin Williams, whose daughter, Zelda Williams, quit social media last week, upset by Internet "trolls" defacing images of her Oscar-winning dad.

"Twitter will remove images of deceased individuals in certain circumstances," a statement posted by Senior Manager of Communications, Nu Wexler, said.

"Immediate family members and other authorised individuals may request the removal of images or videos of deceased individuals, from when critical injury occurs to the moments before or after death," it said.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge