When it was reported on by US News & World Report, YouTube and Facebook deleted all related footage and implemented bans, increasing demand for LiveLeak’s footage as they currently allowed this. On 19 August 2014 a video depicting the beheading of US journalist James Foley was posted by Islamic State terrorists on YouTube and other sites. On 24 March 2014, LiveLeak and Ruptly announced a content partnership. However the video was soon removed again over a copyright claim. The re-post date was 30 March 2008 after arrangements for Hewitt’s family and safety had been improved. Fitna was taken down for 48 hours as personal threats against Hewitt, the only public representative of the site, peaked. LiveLeak already held to being strictly non-biased in its approach to violent content, enshrining freedom of speech within the site rules, regardless of how certain content can offend. LiveLeak was again in the spotlight in March 2008, when it was hosting the anti- Quran film Fitna made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. When Panorama queried the “extremely violent videos” that were posted to LiveLeak’s website, co-founder Hayden Hewitt refused to take them all down, stating: “Look, all this is happening, this is real life, and this is going on, and we’re going to have to show it.” On 30 July 2007, the BBC program Panorama broadcast a show on how street violence between children as young as 11 was being posted on websites including LiveLeak. This among others earned the site a mention from then White House Press Secretary Tony Snow as the likely place to see updates or stories from active soldiers.
LiveLeak first came to prominence in 2007 following the unauthorized filming and leaking of the execution of Saddam Hussein. The website currently redirects to ItemFix, another video site. Hayden Hewitt of Manchester is the only public member of LiveLeak’s founding team. LiveLeak aimed to freely host real footage of politics, war, and many other world events and to encourage and foster a culture of citizen journalism. The site was founded on 31 October 2006, in part by the team behind the shock site which closed on the same day. ‘ LiveLeak (now moved to: ‘ItemFix) was a British video sharing website headquartered in London. Various co-founders including Hayden Hewitt He also suggested that there were financial pressures, writing: “ wasn’t exactly a WordPress blog on $2.99 hosting… donations would not have covered it, nor would we ask.” Fifteen years of fighting tooth and nail seemed like enough.” Responding to one user, Hewitt wrote: “I’m not sure what else anyone needs to know.
He added further details on Twitter after users requested more information on why LiveLeak had been shut down. Hewitt tweeted that the closure of LiveLeak will be discussed on his “extreme centrism” YouTube vlog Trigger Warning, which will air on May 6 at 5:30 p.m. “On a personal level you have fascinated and amused me with your content.” In it, the LikeLeak co-founder writes: “The world has changed a lot over these last few years, the Internet alongside it, and we as people. ItemFix’s website also features a statement from Hewitt, explaining why LiveLeak shut down. Unlike LiveLeak, ItemFix states users may not post any media which “contain excessive violence or gory content.” ItemFix says on its website that it is a platform that allows users to post and edit video and audio files. Now, anyone visiting the old web domain will be redirected to a new site called ItemFix. The site was infamous for hosting explicit and violent content, including executions.
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