Facebook conference, F8, kicks off amid controversy

Global Business

Facebook is holding its largest conference of the year in California – the F8 developers’ conference.

It comes at a time where the social media giant is under pressure in light of the recent Cleveland murder which was posted by the suspect on Facebook.

CGTN’s Mark Niu Reports.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg opened the conference with jokes about ‘The Fate of the Furious’ movie sharing the F8 name and about community building.

Then, like a social media newsfeed with topics flowing one after another, Zuckerberg addressed the Cleveland murder and offered condolences for the elderly victim.

“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Robert Godwin Sr. And we have a lot of work to do and we will do all we can to keep tragedies like this from happening,” Zuckerberg.

On Monday, Facebook’s VP of global operations did issue a statement detailing the timeline of postings by murder suspect Steve Stephens – who posted videos of his intent to murder, then of the shooting and finally of his confession. Facebook said it disabled Stephens’s account within 23 minutes of receiving the first report about the murder video, and two hours after receiving a report of any kind.

At Tuesday’s event, Facebook showed off its push into Virtual and Augmented reality. Mapping tools, object recognition, and artificial intelligence are all part of the social media giant’s master plan to connect more people with more immersive experiences. But can those same tools eventually be used to prevent criminal activity