Khaleej Times

Man kills daughter, self on FB Live

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PAGE 25

bangkok — A Thai man filmed himself killing his 11-month-old daughter in two video clips posted on Facebook before committing suicide, police said on Tuesday.

People could access the videos of the child’s murder on her father’s Facebook page for roughly 24 hours, until they were taken down around 5pm in Bangkok (1000 GMT) on Tuesday, or about a day after being uploaded.

“This is an appalling incident and our hearts go out to the family of the victim,” a Singapore-based Facebook spokesman said in an email. “There is absolutely no place for content of this kind on Facebook and it has now been removed.”

Last week, Facebook said it was reviewing how it monitored violent footage and other objectiona­ble material after a posting of the fatal shooting of a man in Cleveland, Ohio was visible for two hours before being taken down.

The harrowing footage from Thailand showed Wuttisan Wongtalay tying a rope to his daughter’s neck before dropping her from the rooftop of a deserted building in the Thai seaside town of Phuket.

Wuttisan’s suicide was not broadcast but his lifeless body was found beside his daughter, said Jullaus Suvannin, the police officer in charge of the case. “He was having paranoia

This is an appalling incident and our hearts go out to the family of the victim Facebook spokesman

about his wife leaving him and not loving him,” Jullaus said. Reuters was unable to contact the mother of the dead child. Calls to her mobile number went unanswered. Television images showed her weeping and holding the dead baby.

Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy said it contacted Facebook on Tuesday afternoon about removing the videos, after receiving a police request.

“We contacted Facebook today and Facebook removed the videos,” ministry spokesman Somsak Khaosuwan told Reuters, adding that the government would take no action against the company.

“We will not be able to press charges against Facebook, because Facebook is the service provider and they acted according to their protocol when we sent our request. They cooperated very well.” After the company faced a backlash for showing the video of the Cleveland killing, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook would do all it could to prevent such content in the future. — Reuters

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