Facebook regrets promoting VR shooting game days after Florida shooting

The social media giant's move comes after it faced criticism for featuring a violent game so closely after the shooting at a high school in Parkland

IANS  |  San Francisco 

If Facebook wants to be more influential and valuable, it has to be a platform that garners the trust of its users and advertisers. Photo: iSTOCK
If Facebook wants to be more influential and valuable, it has to be a platform that garners the trust of its users and advertisers. Photo: iSTOCK

has apologised, saying it regrets promoting a (VR) shooting game named "Bullet Train" on its stand at the annual 2018 (CPAC) in the US, a week after 17 students were killed in a school shooting.

"The demo was part of 'a standard set of experiences' that featured at public events," Hugo Barra, Vice President, VP of was quoted as saying by The Verge on Monday.

The social media giant's move comes after it faced criticism for featuring a violent game so closely after the shooting at a high school in Parkland,

"In light of the recent events in and out of respect for the victims and their families, we have removed the game from the demo.

We regret that we failed to do so in the first place," Barra added.

US recently said that violent video games and movies are responsible for contributing to violent behaviour that leads to such mass shootings.

"Bullet Train" is a short proof-of-concept shooting game developed by Epic Games in 2015.

The sci-fi experience involves shooting human enemies with a wide range of realistic-looking guns -- something that strikes a sour note in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting, according to The Verge.

First Published: Tue, February 27 2018. 11:36 IST
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