Infamous video sharing website LiveLeak is dead, shutting down on Wednesday after 15 years of nightmare fuel and trauma. Sorry if you wanted to see a brutal murder for some reason.
Founded in 2006 by the team behind gore site Ogrish, LiveLeak was notorious for hosting graphic videos of real violence — including Saddam Hussein’s execution and the beheading of journalist James Foley. The shock site had a laissez faire attitude toward such content, reveling in the gory clips that sites such as YouTube prohibited. It also came under fire for hosting a film that argued the Quran encourages violence against non-Muslims.
However, as of May 5, the gore is no more. LiveLeak’s website now redirects to Itemfix, a new service allowing users to post and edit video, audio, and images.
In a statement on the Itemfix website, LiveLeak co-founder Hayden Hewitt thanked his anonymous collaborators and expressed excitement at moving on to Itemfix.
“The world has changed a lot over these last few years, the Internet alongside it, and we as people,” said Hewitt.
Though ostensibly run by members of the same team that ran LiveLeak, Itemfix’s rules are a bit stricter when it comes to its content policy. Rather than evaluating graphic media on a “case by case basis,” Itemfix explicitly prohibits “excessive violence or gory content.”
Only time will tell how strictly this will be enforced.
“The thing is, [LiveLeak has] never been less than exhilarating, challenging and something we were all fully committed to,” said Hewitt. “Nothing lasts forever though and…we felt LiveLeak had achieved all that it could and it was time for us to try something new and exciting.”
“[W]hilst I know many of you will be upset, possibly angry, about our decision I do hope you also understand our reasons and appreciate that, alongside you, we have walked together through some interesting times and some crazy ones. Sometimes it’s just the right time to chart a new path.”