Jessica Guynn

USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — In what may be the first act of terrorism broadcast on Facebook Live, the suspected killer of a French police commander and his wife streamed a 13-minute video threatening attacks on European soccer competition Euro 2016 and contemplating the fate of the dead couple's child.

"Did you think that we would stay inattentive? Well you have another thing coming. We have other surprises for you," said Larossi Abballa during the Facebook Live video he broadcast from the family's home on the outskirts of Paris after admitting to killing the couple in front of their three-year-old son. The child was seated on a couch behind the 25-year-old Abballa as he filmed the video.

Paris prosecutor: Suspect in killings pledged allegiance to ISIL

"I don’t know yet what I’m going to do with him," Abballa said of the child, according to Paris-based journalist David Thomson.

Abballa said he killed the police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and civil servant Jessica Schneider, who worked at a local police station, showing images of the two victims. He also pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State — also known as ISIL or ISIS — during the video. It was the first terror attack in France since a state of emergency was instituted following the November attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

ISIL uses popular Internet services such as Facebook and Twitter to spread propaganda, to attract and train new recruits and to celebrate terrorist attacks and publicize executions.

Facebook Live and Periscope — two relatively new live-streaming services — may emerge as new propaganda tools for the extremist group.

"We are working closely with the French authorities as they deal with this terrible crime. Terrorists and acts of terrorism have no place on Facebook," Facebook said in an emailed statement. "Whenever terrorist content is reported we remove it as quickly as possible. We treat takedown requests by law enforcement with the highest urgency."

Abballa's account has been shut down and the video removed, but copies are being spread as ISIL propaganda.

Twitter suspends 125,000 ISIL-related accounts

It was not the first time that Facebook Live and Twitter's Periscope have captured acts of violence, including an alleged rape and a shooting.

With 1.6 billion users, Facebook faces the daunting task of policing content — and now increasingly live video — in real time. Facebook relies on users to flag content and has a small team monitoring live videos.

Facebook and Periscope have policies banning violence and violent threats including threatening or promoting terrorism.

"Periscope is not for content that is intended to incite violence, or includes a direct and specific threat of violence to others," reads its policy.

In February, Twitter said it had suspended 125,000 ISIL-related accounts over the previous six months. "We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter Rules make it clear that this type of behavior, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service," the company said at the time.

A video purportedly made after Twitter's announcement by supporters of the Islamic State makes direct threats against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for combating terrorism on their Internet platforms.

Islamic State video makes direct threats against Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey

Facebook Live, which rolled out to celebrities and public figures last summer and more widely earlier this year, is a surprise hit for Facebook. Demand for streaming video impressed CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has made Facebook Live a top priority at the Menlo Park, Calif., company.

Zuckerberg conducted his first-ever Q&A with Facebook users conducted on Facebook Live on Tuesday. During the broadcast, he lamented the Orlando nightclub attack that left 49 dead and 53 others wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history and Monday night's killings of the French police commander and his wife. He did not respond to questions from USA TODAY about how Facebook monitors violent content on Facebook Live.

France is on high alert before the Euro tournament in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris. President François Hollande said Tuesday the killings were “incontestably a terrorist act." He said that France was facing a terror threat "of a very large scale."