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The report detailed the platforms influence as well as the oversight of the platforms to allow extremist and hateful views to proliferate.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The results of a review into the role of social media platforms in the mass shooting at the Tops on Jefferson in Buffalo were released on Tuesday.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul released the results, which detailed the platforms’ influence as well as the oversight of the platforms to allow extremist and hateful views to proliferate.
“The tragic shooting in Buffalo exposed the real dangers of unmoderated online platforms that have become breeding grounds for white supremacy,” James said.
“Today I met with the victims’ families to share the findings of this report. This report is further proof that online radicalization and extremism is a serious threat to our communities, especially communities of color. We saw this happen in Christchurch, Charlottesville, El Paso, and Buffalo, and we cannot wait for another tragedy before we take action. Online platforms should be held accountable for allowing hateful and dangerous content to spread on their platforms. Extremist content is flourishing online, and we must all work together to confront this crisis and protect our children and communities.”
The Attorney General’s Office at the direction of Hochul, reviewed thousands of pages of documents and content to see how the accused shooter used social media to plan and publicize his attack. The internal and external content, as well as the policies of several online platforms were also reviewed in the process.
“For too long, hate and division have been spreading rampant on online platforms — and as we saw in my hometown of Buffalo, the consequences are devastating,” Hochul said.
“In the wake of the horrific white supremacist shooting this year, I issued a referral asking the Office of the Attorney General to study the role online platforms played in this massacre. This report offers a chilling account of factors that contributed to this incident and, importantly, a road map toward greater accountability.”
The accused shooter used many social media platforms including 4chan, 8kun, Reddit, Discord, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Rumble. The review found that fringe online platforms radicalized the accused shooter and that live streaming platforms like Twitch were used to share his actions and encourage copycat violence.
Following the review, James and Hochul are calling for federal and state reforms to fight extremism and violence. State legislation proposed would criminalize graphic photos and videos that were created by a murderer and would also penalize people who reshare those images.
The AG and governor also called for changes to Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act that would increase the accountability of social media and online platforms to prevent violent criminal content from being shared on their platforms.
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