Facebook on Saturday said that it removed 1.5 million videos of the New Zealand attack globally in the first 24 hours.

More than 1.2 million were blocked at upload, it said, in a tweet on Saturday.

In the first 24 hours we removed 1.5 million videos of the attack globally, of which over 1.2 million were blocked at upload...

— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) March 17, 2019

Shares of Facebook Inc fell as much as 5 percent on Friday to their lowest in nearly three months as the Christchurch attack live video stirred outrage. Additionally, the stock was hit by the surprise departure of Chief Product Officer Chris Cox.

"The live-streaming of New Zealand's shooting will certainly bring on more questions of regulation and scrutiny over Facebook. It helped provide a platform for today's horrific attack and will undoubtedly be called into question for facilitating the spread of this," said Clement Thibault, an analyst at global financial markets platform Investing.com.

The gunman, who was part of attacks that killed 50 people in New Zealand, broadcast live footage on Facebook of the attack on one of the mosques, leading to calls for more content moderation by the social network.

(With inputs from Reuters)