The US government is planning to broadcast live the execution of the Fort Hood shooter by firing squad. War Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled the plan on Thursday that would revive public executions in the US for the first time in 90 years.
OpenAI updates War Department deal after backlash
US Army Major Nidal Hasan was guilty of murder In 2009, he shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood, a military post in Texas. Due to be executed by firing squad, Hasan’s execution will now be made available for the public to watch via livestream.
“We’ll make sure that people can see it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that this type of thing has serious consequences,” Hegseth said in an interview Thursday.
Hasan’s execution by firing squad is scheduled for December 3, 1 pm CT / 2 pm ET / 11 pm PT at Fort Hood. If the livestream goes ahead, he would be the first person to be publicly executed in the US since 1937. this will also happen First military hanging since 1961.
Hasan was initially scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. However, In an X post on MondayPentagon spokesman Sean Parnell revealed that Hegseth had recommended Hasan be executed by firing squad and that President Donald Trump had approved it. Hegseth said on Thursday that this method of execution was a “no-brainer” to him and that it was “as it should be”.
mashable light speed
YouTube, Twitch, X, TikTok: Who will livestream Hasan’s hanging?
Details of how Hasan’s execution will be broadcast live have not yet been released. Streaming platforms often have policies prohibiting graphic violence, which at first glance includes a firing squad execution.
Twitch’s Community Guidelines Specifically, users are prohibited from showing “physically…using weapons to kill others”, and warned that any account doing so will be suspended indefinitely. YouTube generally does not allow shocking violence and gore Either, including “corpses with mass injuries”, while TikTok generally prohibits showing the content. “The moment of someone’s death, or the moment of someone being shot.”
However, YouTube says that such violent content may still be allowed if it is “in the public interest.” Similarly, TikTok makes exemptions for “graphic footage of events that would otherwise violate our rules but are in the public interest for viewing,” although such videos are age-restricted and excluded from the For You feed.
Elon Musk’s X is a different thing allows graphic content Provided it is appropriately labeled, not “extremely gory” and does not threaten, incite, or glorify violence. It is unclear whether the US government would consider the execution a glorification of violence. X only restricts footage of the moment a person dies if a representative of their family requests that it be removed.
Mashable has contacted Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, X, and the US War Department for comment.
Trump is famously a prolific and long-time user of X, with several of his officials adopting the platform as well. The Trump administration is no stranger to other streaming platforms either. Last month, the US government launched a 24/7 YouTube livestream “Trump TV” after banning journalists from visiting the White House. Earlier this year, several government departments launched official TikTok accounts, joining already existing accounts belonging to the White House and Trump himself. However, the US military has also previously livestreamed eSports on Twitch retreated from the stage After being criticized in 2020 for its gimmicky gaming giveaways, which actually directed people to recruitment forms.