Buffalo shooting prompts calls for better policing of social media

New York’s Governor has joined calls for policing of social media after ten people were killed in a racially motivated attack which was streamed live on the internet. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said tech executives should take more responsibility for content on their sites following Saturday’s deadly shooting in her hometown of Buffalo.

“Look me in the eye and tell me, have you done everything humanly possible to make sure that you are monitoring this content the second it hits your platform?” Hochul asked on Sunday. “And if you’re not, then I’m going to hold you responsible.”

Hochul contends social media giants have no excuse to not take action because they have large budgets and staffs and can utilize technology and algorithms which don’t require a lot of manpower. 

The gunman live streamed the shooting on Amazon-owned Twitch.TV, a platform generally used by gamers. The service said it acted quickly to remove the content within two minutes. But it wasn’t fast enough to stop it from spreading as the video was shared on other platforms including Facebook and Twitter before it was blocked on Twitch. 

Twitch said in a statement to Buffalo’s WIVB: “Twitch has a zero-tolerance policy against violence of any kind and works swiftly to respond to all incidents. The user has been indefinitely suspended from our service, and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content.”

Twitter stated, “We believe the hateful and discriminatory views promoted in content produced by perpetrators are harmful for society and that their dissemination should be limited in order to prevent perpetrators from publicizing their message.”

The Justice Department is investigating the attack as a hate crime and Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said it will be prosecuted as such. The gunman purportedly wrote a manifesto that was published online in which he said the shooting was intended to terrorize all non-white and non-christian people and get them to leave the country.  

“This individual came here with the express purpose of taking as many Black lives as he could,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said at a news conference on Sunday.

President Joe Biden issued a statement condemning the attack, saying, “Hate must have no safe harbor. We must do everything in our power to end hate-fueled domestic terrorism.” 

The President will travel to Buffalo on Tuesday to meet with victims and their families.  

The AP contributed to this report.