In a horrific video that is believed to have originated out of Indonesia, a baby is seen screaming while being dunked in water and swung by the head. The video was posted on Facebook; and despite lash back from child abuse charities, the social media site initially refused to remove it because it’s supposed to be a form of “baby yoga”.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children told the Mirror Online (NSPCC), “We obviously have deep concerns for the baby and would hope that Facebook does all in its power to help trace whoever was responsible for this appalling incident. It’s difficult to understand why such a dreadful film should have been posted and why Facebook allowed it to be viewed.”
They added, “Our main concern is for the welfare of the baby but there has to be more control over the kind of material that is posted on social media sites and we will be talking to Facebook as a matter of urgency.”
Facebook responded to the NSPCC and said, “We do not allow child abuse on Facebook and any illegal content which is flagged to us is quickly removed. Whilst we understand that people may be upset by this video which depicts a form of baby yoga, after careful review we found it does not break our rules.”
Thankfully, just a few hours ago Facebook reportedly removed the video and their director of public policy in the United Kingdom, Simon Milner, said, “In this situation, Facebook has decided to remove any reported instances of the video on the site that are shared supporting this behavior.” He also said he hopes some good comes from the video and that the baby depicted in it will be rescued.
The clip was posted to Facebook on a public profile less than a week ago, and was reported to Facebook on Wednesday – once on the grounds of promoting graphic violence, and then for nudity.
But a reply from the company said: “Thank you for taking the time to report something that you feel may violate our community standards.
“Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe and welcoming environment. We reviewed the video you reported for containing graphic violence and found it does not violate our community standards.”
Lurleen Hilliard, founder of Nolonger Victims – a global charity campaigning against abuse – said she feared the baby could have been killed by the abuse in the video.
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She said: “It’s one of the sickest videos I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“I’ve spoken to people with medical training and they said, when the baby goes quiet towards the end, it could have suffered something called hyperextension – the neck could have been stretched so much that the baby suffocated.
“At the very minimum that baby is brain damaged from the shaking.
“You do not swing a baby. Shaking baby syndrome can happen if a baby is moved with even a little bit of force.
“This baby was thrown around and turned upside down, and its skin was going red from either very hot water or very cold water. It was torture.”
