Videos and images of the violence in Texas this weekend spread quickly on Twitter.
The mall shooting in Allen left nine people dead – and the SUV crash at a Brownsville bus stop killed 8.
Some of them are shown in these videos appearing on people’s “for you” pages–reportedly, a child was among those shown.
Video from the mall shooting shows bloody bodies piled at the incident.
Twitter’s come under fire for not immediately removing the violent content.
This has all reignited the debate over social media’s responsibility in censoring violent content–particularly when it’s related to mass shootings.
It’s not a debate between the right and left.
Gun control supporters seem split on whether the public should be able to spread videos of gun violence and its aftermath.
Twitter’s critics here argue that the platform *should have* prevented the video from spreading, as it could potentially inflict further trauma on victims and their families, or risk inspiring copycat attacks.
Some users, writing “parents may not know their child has been murdered” and “They are posting dead children’s faces on Twitter.”
Yet, others supported sharing these videos…saying it’ll help people understand the significance of the incidents and gun violence in general…potentially, prompting them to act.
New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie tweeted: “Years ago I wrote that the public needs to see the results of our experiment in unlimited gun ownership and I still think that’s true.”
Twitter has a “sensitive media” policy, which restricts the ways in which people share media that’s graphic or includes violent or adult nudity and sexual behavior.
If people *do* share any of that, they’re supposed to mark their account as sensitive, so there’s a warning message on the content.
Twitter does not allow “media depicting *excessively* gory content, sexual violence and/or assault, bestiality or necrophilia.”
Twitter’s spokesperson hasn’t commented on the controversy.
At Straight Arrow News, we work to bring you a better understanding of these issues with context. We also cover a wide range of stories. *This story* is considered a Media Miss, as it’s been underreported by right-leaning outlets.