Cyber kings destroying decency: As yet another appalling murder is streamed live, a leading writer warns we must fight the lawless billionaires of the net – or say goodbye to democracy and honesty for ever

What took them so long? When Facebook broadcast the horrific Thai murder of an 11-month-old baby, Natalie Jiranuch, hanged by her own father, it was a full 24 hours before the corporate giant removed the unspeakable video footage.
By then it had been seen by 370,000 people, including the baby’s distraught mother, Jiranuch Trirat.
Just a few days earlier, in Cleveland, Ohio, a pensioner called Robert Godwin was out collecting aluminium cans when Steve Stephens, 37, approached and shot him dead, muttering: ‘I’m about to kill this man right here, the old dude.’
This killing was put on Facebook Live – a murder which then remained visible to a supposedly civilised world for a full two hours.
And how did Facebook respond to these snuff videos and the torrent of justified criticism? By asking the rest of us, effectively, to do their job for them.’
Read more: Cyber kings destroying decency: As yet another appalling murder is streamed live, a leading writer warns we must fight the lawless billionaires of the net – or say goodbye to democracy and honesty for ever