This footage can be critical for accountability and for victims’ families. It also raises ethical questions for all of us: should we bear witness by watching graphic videos of human cruelty and suffering? Or do we honor the victims by not looking at the worst moments of their lives?
Allissa V. Richardson, a journalism professor at the University of Southern California who researches black Americans’ use of social media as journalism, said people should not feel a moral obligation to view violent records of important events.
Richardson said there is both power and risk in the way smartphones and social media regularly send us so much evidence of brutality.
“People should be very careful about casually consuming these videos through social media,” Richardson said in an email. “For many black Americans in particular, it can be retraumatizing to see someone who looks like you, or a loved one, being brutalized in this way.”
Richardson also said that when violent moments catch our attention, we can fuse passive watching with action.
“Pushing play is not the same as pushing for tangible change. Social media can sometimes make us forget that,” she said.
But even if you want to, looking the other way isn’t always easy online. Apps like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter are designed to automatically play video after video as you scroll.
For example, when I checked Twitter on Friday night, I found it overwhelming to see video clips playing one after the other the violent confrontation after police pulled Nichols over an alleged traffic violation.
It was also heartbreaking to see these images with people posting Nichols skateboarding or doing other happy activities.
(A note on the Washington Post’s treatment of the Pelosi and Nichols videos: In online news articles, the Post included warnings about the graphic nature of the videos when people clicked to watch them. The videos also didn’t autoplay when people scrolled through videos from The Post website and app.)
However, most popular apps give you some control to view graphics on your own terms. In some apps, you can change your settings to prevent videos from playing automatically when you scroll. You can still press play if you decide.
Or apps allow you to display an alert when you come across potentially sensitive photos and videos, including those depicting violence. You can still click if you want to view them.
Here’s how to change these settings in some popular apps:
Click your profile picture in the bottom right of your screen.
Then tap the three horizontal lines in the top right corner.
Go to Settings → Account → Sensitive Content Control. Choose Less.
Note: If you change this setting, you may still see graphs of accounts you follow. This setting affects accounts that you don’t follow.
Restricted Mode restricts graphic videos from the For You page. You’ll see a “Sensitive Content” warning and can choose whether or not to click to view.
Click on your profile in the bottom right. On the next screen, click on the three horizontal lines at the top right.
Go to Settings and privacy → Content settings → Restricted mode. Choose a passcode to toggle this mode on and off.
On Youtube.com: Set the “Autoplay” switch to “Off” at the bottom of every YouTube video you watch and a new video won’t automatically play when you’re done watching.
Click on your profile in the top right.
Select Settings → Playback and performance → Browsing. Disable “Inline Playback” to prevent videos from playing automatically while browsing.
On the YouTube iPhone and Android app: Click on your profile in the top right.
Select Settings → Autoplay. Tap Off to prevent a video from autoplaying when you’ve finished another.
Another option: Settings → General → Restricted mode. Tap to hide videos that YouTube considers potentially mature.
Another option: Settings → General → Playback in feeds. Select “Off” to stop playing videos while browsing.
From the iPhone app, tap Menu or three horizontal lines in the lower-right corner of your main screen. Or in the Android app: Tap the three horizontal lines in the top right of your main screen.
On the next screen, select the icon that looks like a gear in the top right corner.
Under “Settings” select “Media”. Select the option “Never autoplay videos”.
Twitter.com: On the left side of the screen, select the image of the circle with three dots in the middle.
Then select Settings & Support → Settings & Privacy → Privacy & Security → What You See. Clear the Show media that may contain sensitive content check box. You’ll see a warning about photos and videos that are considered sensitive and have the option to click to view them.
Another option: From Settings & Support → Settings & Privacy → Privacy & Security → What You See. In the “Search settings” activate the option “Hide sensitive content”.
Another option: From Settings & Support → Settings & Privacy → Accessibility, Display & Languages → Data Usage → Autoplay. Select “Never” to stop videos from autoplaying while scrolling.
In Twitter’s iPhone and Android apps: Click on your profile picture in the top left of the screen.
Select Settings & Support → Settings & Privacy → Accessibility, Display & Languages → Data Usage → Autoplay (iPhones only) → Video Autoplay.
Select “Never” to stop videos from autoplaying while scrolling.
