The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), a leading representative of Muslims in France, on Monday said it was suing Facebook and YouTube after footage of the Christchurch massacre was streamed on their platforms.

The mass-shooting at two mosques in New Zealand was livestreamed by the attacker through his Facebook profile for 17 minutes.

A few hours after the attack, footage from the stream could still be found on Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc's YouTube, as well as Facebook-owned Instagram and Whatsapp.

Abdallah Zekri, president of the observatory of Islamophobia at the CFCM confirmed the legal complaint.