This content was classified as illegal in NZ and so Facebook needs to comply with NZ law if they wish to continue operating here.

Classified as illegal after the fact. You can't punish users for sharing a video that was retroactively declared illegal by a country they don't live in.

> Classified as illegal after the fact. You can't punish users for sharing a video that was retroactively declared illegal by a country they don't live in.

This comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19435419), states that according to NZ law, the video was "born illegal." [1]

[1] term inspired by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_secret

That's why I said "retroactively declared illegal".

I took the comment to mean that there's a set of criteria that makes all matching videos illegal from when they're created, not just from when an authority declares the video matches the criteria (which could just be viewed as confirmation).

If someone posts a video that is obscene then that's a crime at the time, even if the video is not spotted until later.

Similarly if someone murders someone it's a crime when the event happens, even if it is not found out until later.

In all cases ignorance of the law is not a defence.

And if someone does this from another country then most countries have extradition treaties in place.

> If someone posts a video that is obscene

I live in the USA. Barring a few very specific categories I'm allowed to post almost anything. At worst I can get sued for refusing to take it down.

> And if someone does this from another country then most countries have extradition treaties in place.

What? I can violate all the New Zealand laws I like. I live in a sovereign nation very far away.

Don't forget that most of these sites have terms of use which explicitly bans the uploading of these types of videos. So even if you live in a country that permits you sharing it, you'll still need to find a site willing to host it.

Going on a worldwide crusade to remove the video from everywhere possible seems rather heavy-handed for a nation-specific law. The response from FB and other groups to this video specifically has been very strange.

The video also violates Facebook's terms of use.

It's a snuff film, there's no conceivable reason for anyone to want to view it other than mental illness

So are the 9/11 videos, yet those seem to be everywhere without anyone having a problem with them.

Wow, if Facebook does the same about tiananmen tank men and a sleuth of other stuff, they didn't have to get blocked in China!

A company can ban users from their platform for any reason, though.

We're not talking about legal compulsion - we're talking about doing what's right.

In the grand scheme of things, the murder of 49 people is objectively worse than the rape of a single child.

Facebook shouldn't have a problem getting rid of people who upload this, as anyone who would do so is not the kind of person that Facebook should want as users.

But at the end of the day, Facebook only cares about money.

Facebook bans people who violate the TOS. I don't know why you think they don't.

Because there is zero indication of it in this statement.

Which doesn't mean Facebook couldn't ban them anyway.

IIRC the content is illegal in New Zealand - remember reading a mention of it's possession being banned due to the video being objectionable content or something