Facebook Live rules overhauled after New Zealand mosque terror attack

'Following the horrific terrorist attacks in New Zealand, we've been reviewing what more we can do to limit our services from being used to cause harm or spread hate,' Facebook says

Facebook faced criticism after the Christchurch gunman live-streamed the massacre over the social media platform (AFP/Getty Images)

Facebook has introduced new rules to its livestreaming feature Facebook Live in an attempt to prevent the spread of "adversarial media".

The move comes two months after the Christchurch terrorist attacks in New Zealand, during which a gunman streamed live video of the massacre on Facebook.

From today, people who have previously broken Facebook's "most serious policies" will be prevented from using Facebook Live, a move that Facebook claims would have prevented the terrorist from broadcasting the attack on Facebook.

"Following the horrific terrorist attacks in New Zealand, we've been reviewing what more we can do to limit our services from being used to cause harm or spread hate," wrote Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, in a blog post announcing the new changes.

"Today we are tightening the rules that apply specifically to Live. We will now apply a 'one strike' policy to Live in connection with a broader range of offenses. From now on, anyone who violates our most serious policies will be restricted from using Live for set periods of time."

The announcement comes as New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meets with other world leaders at a summit in Paris to discuss tackling extremism online.

Facebook said it is also investing $7.5 million (£5.8m) in partnerships with the University of Maryland, Cornell University and The University of California, Berkeley, with the intention of developing new techniques to detect manipulated media on its platform.

This follows the spread of different variants of the Christchurch attack video that were able to spread across the social network as its systems did not immediately recognise the edited versions.

The research could also help spot so-called deepfakes - digitally manipulated videos that show events that never occurred.

"These are complex issues and our adversaries continue to change tactics," Facebook's blog post concluded.

"We know that it is only by remaining vigilant and working with experts, other companies, governments and civil society around the world that we will be able to keep people safe."