Christchurch Video: An Ethical Analysis of Social Media's Role

This report delves into the ethical complexities surrounding the Christchurch video, examining the rapid spread of the footage through social media platforms. It highlights the role of features like autoplay, trending hashtags, and the lack of boundaries in video uploads as major contributors to the widespread dissemination of the violent content. The report identifies key ethical issues, including privacy, professionalism, social values, and the ease of accessibility, discussing how these issues were amplified by the live streaming of the video. It explores solutions such as Facebook's efforts to remove the video and the use of hashing techniques to prevent its re-upload. The report then applies ethical theories like Utilitarianism, Deontology, Contract, and Virtue to evaluate the actions and their consequences. It concludes by recommending measures to improve social media platform efficiency and reduce the spread of unethical content, emphasizing the need for content moderation and user accountability.