Do social media companies bear some responsibility when violent acts are posted on their pages?
Police are currently engaged in a 5-state manhunt across Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana and Michigan for the murder suspect, 37-year-old Steve Stephens. On Easter Sunday, Stephens uploaded a video showing him shoot an apparently random victim, Robert Godwin, Sr. Sophia Cope is a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a non-profit group focused on digital civil liberties. She explained that Facebook is "definitely not responsible for the crime," and that under U.S. law it is unlikely the company will be held liable for allowing the video to be uploaded and shared. "Like it or not, this kind of violent content, whether its actual violence or violence in movies ... it's protected by the First Amendment," Cope said.
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