Updated 3:35 p.m. April 12: This story has been updated with comment from Sen. Mark Warner.
_______________________________
Sen. Tim Kaine, in a Friday letter to the Federal Trade Commission’s chairwoman, called on the agency to investigate the failure of Google and Meta to remove videos showing the 2015 murders of two Roanoke television journalists and the wounding of a third person.
WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward died in August 2015 during a report from Smith Mountain Lake, after a former co-worker attacked them. Vicki Gardner, whom the two were interviewing at Bridgewater Plaza, was seriously wounded.
Both the live news footage and the shooter’s own video have circulated on Google-owned YouTube, as well as on Meta products Facebook and Instagram.
Parker’s father, Andy Parker, has for years tried to have the footage removed and has testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about its effect on his family.
“Mr. Parker continues to suffer because companies like Google and Meta are still hosting content depicting this tragic incident on their platforms,” Kaine, D-Virginia, wrote to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan. “I am concerned by the approach taken by these platforms, which shifts the burden of finding and removing content in violation of the platform’s Terms of Service onto murder victims’ families.”
Kaine’s colleague, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, made a similar request in October. In a reply to Warner the next month, Khan wrote: “We will carefully review your letter to determine whether law enforcement or other action is warranted.”
In a recent interview, Warner said that it “doesn’t pass the smell test” that social media giants can’t police such material, and that the United States is a “laggard in the industrial world” about passing related legislation.
Parker and the Georgetown University Law Clinic in March 2020 and October 2021 submitted complaints to the FTC, requesting that the commission investigate YouTube and Facebook. According to their complaints, the sites have failed to enforce their terms of service by neglecting to remove videos of the murders, violating the FTC Act’s Section 5 prohibition against ”unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”
Kaine wrote to Khan: “I urge the FTC to promptly respond to Mr. Parker’s complaints and work closely with Mr. Parker to address his concerns. I also encourage the FTC to explore all possible avenues to ensure that companies like Google and Meta provide consumers with an experience free from violent and harmful content as claimed by their Terms of Service.”