Child abuse video stayed on Facebook after tech giant assured TDs it had been removed

A video showing a three-year-old boy being violently beaten remained on Facebook even after the web giant apologised and gave categorical assurances to an Oireachtas committee that it had been removed.

At a meeting of the Communications committee two weeks ago, Facebook’s Niamh Sweeney told TDs that the company took “immediate steps” to remove the video following the broadcast of a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary on how the platform moderated disturbing content.

Sweeney, ...