Crime and Justice Atlas

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Offense

Livestreamed Crime

Cyber and Technology-Enabled Offenses

Livestreamed crime is a phenomenon in which criminal acts are broadcast live and in public on social media platforms such as Twitch or Facebook Live. Because a livestream reaches viewers instantaneously, platforms find it difficult to detect and moderate the content before harm occurs or to protect the privacy of victims and bystanders. A widely reported early case occurred in Ohio in April 2016, when a rape was broadcast live on Periscope, prompting scrutiny of platforms' ability to intervene in real time.

Facts
Notable Example
2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, in which the gunman livestreamed the attack on the Al Noor Mosque via Facebook Live for 17 minutes, killing 51 people 1
Classification
Offense Grade
Minor or Summary Offense 1
Connections

Has Offense Grade

Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.

Sources
1. Livestreamed crime (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestreamed_crime, lead paragraph
    Livestreamed crime is a phenomenon in which criminal acts are publicly livestreamed on social media platforms such as Twitch or Facebook Live.
  • Instances, 2019 entry
    The first attack was livestreamed by the shooter on Facebook Live for 17 minutes.
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