Twitch says it will remove any video with footage of Jacksonville Madden shooting

Twitch will remove any clip that contains footage of the Jacksonville Madden NFL 19 shooting, which left a dozen injured and three people dead, the company told Polygon.

A clip of the shooting’s first moments — which originated on Twitch — circulated on Twitter and Reddit before it was taken down by Twitch administrators. That same clip was downloaded and re-uploaded to YouTube and Twitter. While YouTube and Twitter will allow the clip to remain active on their site, under certain provisions, Twitch will not allow the clip to circulate on channels under any circumstance, citing its community guidelines.

The company’s guidelines state that “acts and threats of violence will be taken seriously and are considered zero-tolerance violations.” A Twitch representative pointed Polygon to this section of the community guidelines when asked why the clip is being removed.

Twitch’s issue is uncommon, but it’s not unique. Facebook came under fire last year after reports that violent acts were being committed on Facebook Live streams and that videos remained active after the fact. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed these concerns in May, stating:

Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen people hurting themselves and others on Facebook -- either live or in video posted later. It’s heartbreaking, and I’ve been reflecting on how we can do better for our community.

If we’re going to build a safe community, we need to respond quickly. We’re working to make these videos easier to report so we can take the right action sooner -- whether that’s responding quickly when someone needs help or taking a post down.

Facebook does, however, take into context why certain videos are shared. The Jacksonville shooting would be allowed because it falls under a newsworthy event that people want to talk about and raises awareness about issues. Much like YouTube, Facebook will allow people to share the clip, but will “add a warning label to especially graphic or violent content so that it is not available to people under the age of eighteen,” according to its community standards page. Facebook’s stance reads:

We remove content that glorifies violence or celebrates the suffering or humiliation of others because it may create an environment that discourages participation. We allow graphic content (with some limitations) to help people raise awareness about issues. We know that people value the ability to discuss important issues like human rights abuses or acts of terrorism. We also know that people have different sensitivities with regard to graphic and violent content.

YouTube is the most proactive about what can and can’t be shared, and how content that includes violence must be presented. The company is aware that more people are using its platform as “citizen journalists,” according to its community guidelines on violence and graphic footage, acknowledging that it’s “inevitable that some of these videos will contain content that is violent or graphic in nature.”

That includes videos like the original Twitch clip, in which gunshots can be heard ringing out through the venue.

YouTube’s community guidelines state that these types of videos are acceptable, but the proper metadata, tagging and title usage are impertinent. YouTube’s guidelines also state the video needs to be educational and contextual; simply uploading the video for the sake of sensationalized media or gratuitous violence is unacceptable. The Jacksonville Madden shooting would need a title that explains this is a clip from that report, with an additional warning for disturbing audio and imagery.

If a video is particularly graphic or disturbing, it should be balanced with additional context and information.If posting graphic content in a news, documentary, scientific, or artistic context, please be mindful to provide enough information to help people understand what’s going on. In some cases, content may be so violent or shocking that no amount of context will allow that content to remain on our platforms. Lastly, don’t encourage others to commit specific acts of violence.

YouTube will also institute age gates, which require users to log in and confirm they’re at least 18 years old before they can watch the video.

Twitter, where the clip also spread, has vague rules surrounding sharing violent content. The company does allow “forms of graphic violence” in tweets, according to its rules, but they should be marked as “containing sensitive media.” The company may also ask users to remove the video if requested by families of the victims.

By now the clip has spread widely. It’s easily accessible, but incredibly disturbing. It seems like the only platform people won’t be able to share it is on Twitch, where it first streamed.