Facebook responds to criticism over Cleveland video: ‘We know we need to do better’

by Harper Neidig - 04/17/17 5:49 PM ET

Facebook on Monday promised to review its process for users to report inappropriate content as the search continues for a man who is believed to have uploaded a video of himself killing someone to the site.

Justin Osofsky, Facebook’s vice president of global operations, wrote in a blog post on Monday that the company wants to make it easier for users to flag posts that may violate Facebook’s rules.

{mosads}“We disabled the suspect’s account within 23 minutes of receiving the first report about the murder video, and two hours after receiving a report of any kind,” Osofsky wrote. “But we know we need to do better.”

Law enforcement officials mounted a manhunt for Steve Stephens on Sunday after he allegedly uploaded a video of him fatally shooting an elderly man and then confessing to the killing in a separate Facebook Live broadcast.

According to Osofsky’s post, Stephens uploaded a video of himself announcing his intent to kill someone, uploaded a second video showing the act, and then spoke about the crime via Facebook Live. Some outlets mistakenly reported that Stephens was seen shooting someone on Facebook Live.

Facebook said the three videos were posted between 11 and 11:30 a.m. PDT. The livestream of the alleged confession was flagged shortly after it ended, but the video reportedly showing a killing was not reported to Facebook until 1 p.m., the company said.

Facebook disabled the account at around 1:30 p.m.

“As a result of this terrible series of events, we are reviewing our reporting flows to be sure people can report videos and other material that violates our standards as easily and quickly as possible,” Osofsky said.

Facebook condemned the killing of 74-year-old Robert Godwin earlier on Monday.

“This is a horrific crime, and we do not allow this kind of content on Facebook,” a spokeswoman said in a statement to CNN. “We work hard to keep a safe environment on Facebook, and are in touch with law enforcement in emergencies when there are direct threats to physical safety.”