I can’t blame Facebook: Mother who saw daughter’s Facebook Live murder

Jiranuch mother of the lady that was murdered on Facebook live by her boyfriend said she harboured no ill will towards Facebook. “I don’t blame Facebook. They are not part of the problem, we can choose to broadcast happiness or sadness,” she said.

The family has been sleeping at the temple where Natalie’s coffin lies since her death to attend daily funeral prayers chanted by Buddhist monks and nuns.

The distraught Thai mother of a baby girl killed by her boyfriend in a murder he broadcast on Facebook Live has described the harrowing moment she stumbled across the video and rushed to alert police.

The killing on Monday evening caused revulsion both in Thailand and around the world, sparking renewed debate about what can be done by social media giants to more quickly remove live broadcasts of violent crimes, suicides and murders. Jiranuch Trirat, a 22-year-old from Phuket, was left devastated after her boyfriend Wuttisan Wongtalay hanged their 11-month old daughter Natalie from the side of an abandoned building before taking his own life. 

He broadcast Natalie’s murder on Facebook Live, a video that Jiranuch came across that evening. “I was with my older brother and he was logging onto his Facebook,” she told AFP on Thursday from a Phuket temple where daily prayers were being held for Natalie ahead of her cremation on Saturday. 

“He was scrolling down and suddenly we saw the live broadcast. I turned to take a look and saw him (Wuttisan) drop my daughter with the rope and I couldn’t continue to watch.” The horrifying realisation of what was unfolding sparked a desperate search by relatives and police, with the bodies of Wuttisan and Natalie found just a few hours later. The murder video remained on Facebook for around 24 hours, prompting cries for the social network to move more swiftly to take down clips of grisly crimes and killings.

Vanguard