Online for hours

Man kills father and presents head on YouTube

(Bild: APA/AFP/Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)

A man is said to have murdered his father in the US state of Pennsylvania and then posted a brutal video of the victim's severed head on the internet. According to a statement from the responsible law enforcement agency, the crime took place on Tuesday evening (local time) in the city of Levittown, around 40 minutes' drive from Philadelphia. Police arrested the 32-year-old suspect early on Wednesday morning.

US media reported that the 14-minute video had been available on YouTube for hours and had reached more than 5,000 views before it was removed from the online platform. It is said to show the alleged perpetrator holding up a transparent plastic bag, apparently containing a severed head.

Justin Mohn (32) was arrested after the brutal video.

(Bild: AP)

Victim had worked for the government
The man identified himself by his full name, repeated conspiracy theories from the right-wing spectrum and called his father a traitor to the country because he had worked for the government. According to the reports, he also made threats against several US federal agencies and made negative comments about US President Joe Biden.

The law enforcement agency announced that the video had played a role in the manhunt for the alleged perpetrator. After his arrest, he was charged with murder and desecration of corpses, among other things.

Criticism of YouTube
YouTube, meanwhile, has to face the question of why the gruesome video was not removed from the platform earlier. A spokesperson for the Google video platform told the New York Times that the video had been removed from the network because it violated YouTube's guidelines on the depiction of violence. In addition, the suspect's channel had been closed for violating the guidelines on violent extremism. Now care will be taken to ensure that the video is not uploaded again.

When monitoring the videos uploaded by users, YouTube relies on algorithms that take action and prevent the content from being displayed in the event of violations of the guidelines or copyright law. However, many YouTube employees are also involved in the monitoring process, for example when users complain about offensive content or want to reverse an incorrect block.

According to the company, YouTube removed more than 10.5 million channels and more than 8.1 million videos between July and September last year. More than 95 percent of the removed videos were initially flagged by automated systems, according to YouTube.