Facebook admits no livestream changes

Facebook has told New Zealand's Privacy Commissioner John Edwards it has not changed a thing about its livestreaming functions since the Christchurch terror attacks.

• This story was first published by RNZ

Mr Edwards spoke with the social media giant today, and said he was disappointed the company has taken no practical steps to improve the service.

Facebook has been heavily criticised for allowing the livestreaming and sharing of the Christchurch terror attack on its platform.

It took the company 29 minutes to detect the livestreamed video of the massacre in which 50 people were killed on March 15 this year.

About 1.3 million copies of the video were blocked from Facebook, but 300,000 copies were published and shared.

Mr Edwards said Facebook has admitted it has not done anything that would prevent a similar livestream occurring and being shared.

Last week, Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said the company must do more to stamp out hate and strengthen the rules for using its live-streaming platform.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg has now asked governments and regulators to play a more active role in controlling what is published on the internet.