There was a lot of outrage from several Facebook and Twitter users after the horrific video of the murder of two TV journalists started playing automatically on their feeds. The Virginia shooting video went viral on social media sites after the killer posted them on Facebook and Twitter. The video show the first-hand shooting of a TV reporter and a cameraman, captured by gunman Vester Flanagan, known by his on-air name Bryce Williams.
The viral video of the shooting were auto-played on several users' news feeds, forcing them to watch the dreadful incident.
Facebook and Twitter acted upon the incident by deleting Flanagan's profile within eight minutes of the video being shared but failed to contain the aftermath. Many media outlets and users picked up the video and re-posted it on their feeds, which spread like wildfire.
Outraged users took to Twitter to express their disenchantment with the auto-play feature, which was recently introduced to the social networking sites.
Auto play on social media is an issue. It happened with James Foley. Happened with others. It happened again today.
— Ross Maghielse (@Maghielse) August 26, 2015
Twitter and Facebook autoplay videos made me witness the murder of someone from multiple angles today. Good job technology — Tom Warren (@tomwarren) August 26, 2015
If you wish to disable the feature, it is well within your control. A few simple steps on your PC or mobile can disable auto-play for videos and play them only on demand. This can save you the horror of being forced to watch the shooting video.
Disable Auto-Play On Facebook
Desktop
- Go to Settings
- Select Videos
- Turn "Auto-Play Videos" to "Off"
Android App
- Go to App Settings
- Scroll down to Videos play automatically
- Select "Off"
iOS App
- Select More at the bottom right
- Go to Settings
- Select Videos and switch Auto-Play to Off
Disable Auto-Play on Twitter
Desktop
- Click on your profile picture thumbnail on the top right
- Select Settings from the dropdown menu
- Under Content, find Video Tweets and uncheck Video autoplay.
Android App
- Tap on three vertical dots on top right corner and select Settings
- Go to General
- Select Autoplay and turn Off
iOS App
- Tap on Me at the bottom right
- Tap on Gear icon and then Settings
- Find Video Autoplay and Select "Never play videos automatically."
