The father of a Roanoke, Va. reporter who was murdered during a morning live shot in 2015 wants the Federal Trade Commission to take action against Facebook for failing to remove online footage of the shooting.
Andy Parker, the father of WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, said Facebook is violating its own terms of service by hosting video of her murder on its site and on Instagram.
Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed by a former co-worker live on-air in August 2015. Video of the shooting, including some taken by the gunman, has resurfaced on Facebook and Instagram despite assurances from top executives that it would be removed, said a complaint Parker filed Tuesday with the Georgetown Law Civil Rights Clinic.
The complaint said Facebook is engaging in deceptive trade practices by violating its own terms of service and misrepresenting the safety of the platform and how hard it is to get harmful and traumatic content removed.
Attorneys and advocates working with Parker said they’ve gone as far as asking Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg to have the videos removed. Parker said the complaints have been ignored.
“Facebook wants the public to self-police. They want you to report, they want me to report. They want me to watch the videos and report them,” said Parker. “And even when you do report it, they ignore you.”
Parker has also filed a complaint against Google-owned YouTube.