Facebook refuses to remove sickening 'child abuse' video claiming it does not breach rules Facebook refuses to remove sickening 'child abuse' video claiming it does not breach rules police probe disturbing Facebook video of baby spun around police probe disturbing Facebook video of baby spun around WARNING: Contains upsetting images. Child protection charities have strongly condemned the social network for its 'staggering' inaction over the horrifying clip Sickening: Child abuse charities have condemned Facebook for refusing to remove the video Facebook has been slammed by child protection charities for refusing to remove a viral video showing a naked newborn baby being flung around by the head and dunked in water. MirrorOnline has contacted Facebook for further comment. Toronto police are concerned about the welfare of a baby who appears to be aggressively swung around and repeatedly dipped into a tub of water by an unidentified woman in a video that was recently shared on Facebook. The disturbing video was posted to Facebook on May 26 and has since been viewed more than 100,000 times. It's unclear if the baby, who is believed to be a boy, is Canadian. Police say the nearly two-minute long video that "shows abuse of an infant" was brought to their attention by the Catholic Children's Aid Society on Tuesday. "The baby is being swung by its arm and is repeatedly being dunked into a bucket of water," police spokesperson Meaghan Gray told CTV Toronto. One charity representative described the harrowing footage as "the sickest video I've seen" - yet the social media site claims it does not violate their standards policy. The disgusting two-minute clip, thought to originate from Indonesia, shows a chatting woman dunking the screaming baby in a bucket of water by a woman - whose face can't be seen - while they are being filmed by another person. The tot screams loudly while she swings it around by its limbs. The baby's arms are then pulled even higher, with the adult holding them in one hand, while she swings the infany round and round, its head repeatedly flopping side to side. She then hangs it upside down high in the air by its legs, and swings it by the head by holding its cheeks. Chillingly, the baby then falls silent, prompting fears it has suffered serious harm during the horrific torment. The video - which has been shared thousands of times around the world - was reported to Facebook staff in the UK on the grounds of both 'graphic violence' and then 'nudity'. But, shockingly, moderators at the social network said the clip had been reviewed but did not violate their standards policy. Child abuse charities have condemned Facebook and called for them to remove the clip and said it could even trigger strong emotional reactions from abuse victims. Gabrielle Shaw, CEO for the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: "It is actually staggering that it does not breach the terms of Facebook. "We are of course aware of free speech but surely this is an image of shocking abuse and we would look to Facebook to at the very least take this down and investigate. "It is a familiar issue, the right to free speech, but come on, this is a baby being hideously abused. "It is staggering that Facebook think it does not violate their website. "We have people who call us for support who have been abused in their childhoods, and give moving accounts of their experiences, and they - as well as other people - will have serious reactions to seeing or hearing about this video." The clip was posted to Facebook on a public profile less than a week ago, and was reported to Facebook on Wednesday - once on the grounds of promoting graphic violence, and then for nudity. But a reply from the company said: "Thank you for taking the time to report something that you feel may violate our community standards. "Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe and welcoming environment. "We reviewed the video you reported for containing graphic violence and found it does not violate our community standards." Lurleen Hilliard, founder of Nolonger Victims - a global charity campaigning against abuse - said she feared the baby could have been killed by the abuse in the video. She said: "It's one of the sickest videos I've ever seen in my life." "I've spoken to people with medical training and they said, when the baby goes quiet towards the end, it could have suffered something called hyperextension - the neck could have been stretched so much that the baby suffocated. "At the very minimum that baby is brain damaged from the shaking. "You do not swing a baby. Shaking baby syndrome can happen if a baby is moved with even a little bit of force. "This baby was thrown around and turned upside down, and it's skin was going red from either very hot water or very cold water. It was torture."

• published: 04 Jun 2015
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