Will social media platforms allow Fort Hood shooter's execution to be livestreamed?

Washington — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's revelation that the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will be streamed live has drawn fierce criticism and calls for him to reconsider his plan. But it has also put the spotlight on whether social media companies will allow government accounts to stream the death by firing squad on their platforms.

Hegseth has not provided additional details about the Defense Department's plans to livestream the execution of Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 at Fort Hood in 2009. Hasan is set to die by firing squad at 1 p.m. on Dec. 3 at the Texas Army installation, the defense secretary said.

"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public, because people need to understand that there's consequences for these types of things," Hegseth said.

The defense chief did not say how the execution would be streamed, and whether the Pentagon would provide that content through its social media accounts or on its website. But his comments Thursday, made to far-right political activist Jack Posobiec, provide advance warning to social media companies that the content could be posted to their platforms.

"If this were a private entity who said, 'we're going to be executing someone at this date,' I think platforms would just say, 'you can't use our platform,'" David Greene, senior counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told CBS News. "The only reason this is even a little bit more difficult of a decision for the platforms is because this is the government doing it, and there is some interest in the public understanding and being able to witness barbaric acts of its government, and there will also likely be pressure from the government to carry it."

Google, Meta, TikTok and X, which operate the nation's most popular social media platforms, all have policies governing violent or graphic content. Google, Meta and X did not respond to questions about whether they would allow the Defense Department to livestream Hasan's execution on their platforms or whether that content would violate their rules.

A spokesperson for TikTok U.S. pointed to its policy on "shocking and graphic content," which states that the platform does not allow "anything extremely gory, disturbing, or violent, especially when it could cause psychological harm."

"Some content that's less graphic or shared in the public interest may be allowed, but it may be viewable only for users 18 and older or ineligible" for its For You Feed, TikTok's policy states. That includes "graphic footage of events that would otherwise violate our rules but are in the public interest to view, such as wars and major disasters."

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, explicitly states in its "violent and graphic content" policy that it does not allow "live-streams of capital punishments."

"We recognize that users may share content in order to shed light on or condemn acts such as human rights abuses or armed conflict," Meta's rules read. "Our policies consider when content shared in this context and allow room for discussion and awareness raising accordingly."

YouTube, operated by Google, has guidelines covering violent or graphic content, as well as harmful or dangerous content. 

YouTube's harmful or dangerous content policy bars "acts performed by adults that have a risk of serious harm or death," or "content that encourages dangerous or illegal activities that risk serious physical harm or death." 

The violent or graphic content policy states that YouTube does not allow "violent or gory content intended to shock or disgust viewers."

The company tells users not to post content that includes "footage or imagery showing bodily fluids, such as blood or vomit, with the intent to shock or disgust viewers" or "footage of corpses with massive injuries, such as severed limbs."

YouTube also has rules specifically governing content that involves guns and says it prohibits "live streams that show someone holding, handling, or transporting a firearm."

X, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, prohibits "violent media that we consider high in severity and likelihood of harm." Its policy covers "gratuitous gore" and "moment of death." Violent content is barred "within areas that are highly visible" on the platform, including live video.

The social media platform considers "gratuitous gore" to be "media of humans or animals that depicts excessively graphic or gruesome content related to death, violence or severe physical harm," including "dismembered or mutilated humans."

X says it may request the removal of "images or videos that were taken at the point of, immediately before, or after an identifiable individual's death, if we receive a request from their family or an authorized representative."

Some social media companies like Facebook and YouTube tightened their policies on harmful content in the wake of the 2019 attack at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, when a gunman livestreamed the massacre. Years earlier, they scrambled to take down graphic videos of brutal executions by Islamic State militants. But social media companies have also been encouraged to ensure content showing human rights abuses or war crimes is preserved.

Greene said it would be up to the platforms to decide whether to allow content like an execution by firing squad to be streamed, even if it may violate their policies. And because the Defense Department has telegraphed its plans to show the killing, Greene said he expects people inside the companies to decide whether to allow the footage on their platforms, rather than waiting for it to be flagged by automated systems.

Executions outside of the military justice system are typically observed by members of the media, who serve as representatives of the public and provide a look into what capital punishment entails, Greene said. 

But he stressed that when deciding whether to allow Hasan's execution to be streamed live, social media companies should consider the U.S. government's motives.

"This seems to be the government wanting to broadcast the execution for propaganda purposes and wanting to glorify its ability to execute people," he said.

If Hegseth follows through with his plan to livestream Hasan's execution, it would place the United States in a small group of nations that are carrying out public executions. There were at least 17 known public executions in 2025: six in Afghanistan and 11 in Iran, according to Amnesty International.

In the U.S., it appears the last public execution took place in 1936. Then, a crowd of an estimated 20,000 gathered to watch the hanging of Rainey Bethea, a Black man who confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old White woman, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The last military execution took place in 1961, when U.S. Army Private John Bennett was hanged. Hasan's death by firing squad would be the military's first since 1945, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. 

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