Sen. Warner urges removal of tragic Moneta shooting still found online

Jason Dunovant 22 hrs ago

WASHINGTON — More than eight years after it originally aired on live television, efforts are still underway to remove the graphic videos online depicting the murders of WDBJ journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward while reporting from Smith Mountain Lake.

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner wrote to Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan on Thursday urging action against Google and Meta for their failure to remove videos of the August 2015 shooting at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta from YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. The live footage, as well as video recorded by the gunman, has continued to circulate online.



WDBJ (Channel 7) reporter Alison Parker (left) and cameraman Adam Ward were shot and killed live on air by a disgruntled former employee of the station in 2015.
Courtesy of WDBJ

“I am deeply troubled by this response, as the burden of finding and removing harmful content should not fall to victims’ families who are grieving their loved ones,” Warner wrote. “This approach only serves to retraumatize them and inflict additional pain. Instead, I firmly believe that the responsibility lies solely with the platform to ensure that any content violating its own Terms of Service is removed expeditiously.”

The letter by Warner continues the efforts started in 2019 by Andy Parker, father of Alison Parker, urging Congress to take action against Facebook and Google for failing to remove the videos. He also worked with Warner as well as U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono and Amy Klobuchar to pass legislation that would force companies to be responsible for material uploaded by third parties.

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Jason Dunovant
(540) 981-3324
jason.dunovant@roanoke.com