Following the in Buffalo tragedy, New York, New Jersey's Acting Attorney General Merrick Garland started an investigation into Twitch and Discord to examine if the websites broke laws against violent and extremist speech.
The purpose of the investigation, according to Acting AG Platkin, was to see if policy or moderation shortcomings permitted the platforms to become vectors for disseminating extremist content, particularly among young people.
Payton Gendron, the 18-year-old charged of shooting 13 people at a Tops supermarket on May 14, killing 10, used Discord to disseminate his white supremacist views and live-streamed the attack on Twitch.
"These social media platforms have enormous reach, especially with young people, and have shown themselves to be staging grounds for hateful and extremist content that may radicalize children and others," said Acting AG Platkin. "New Jersey has a substantial interest in investigating how these companies moderate and prohibit content that may harm consumers."
Platkin further said that New Jersey companies must fulfill their promises of content moderation. The acting AG then urged the stricter enforcement of laws against hate crimes.
The investigation is similar to one launched by New York Attorney General Letitia James last week.
Engadget said that it's unclear whether the investigations in New York and New Jersey will be coordinated.
What Role Did Social Media Play in the Suspect's Crimes?
As per our previous report, the shooter claimed to have become radicalized on 4chan two years ago. Other white supremacist mass shooters have utilized the website to distribute manifestos prior to their attacks.
The suspect published a 180-page document outlining his belief in The Great Replacement, a right wing, white supremacist conspiracy theory.
He also supplied information on how he planned and accomplished his attack.
According to logs from the shooter's private Discord channel, he used the platform as a diary, detailing thoughts that turned deadly reality two weeks ago. Some of his Discord messages are from months ago.
The shooter used the video streaming service Twitch to livestream his crime across the internet. The stream lasted approximately 10 minutes.
In less than two minutes, the Twitch feed was pulled down. The horrible footage, however, quickly went viral on the internet.
Facebook Struggles To Remove the Buffalo Shooting Footage
Another report noted that Facebook is still working to prevent its platforms from being used to broadcast violent footage, as videos of the tragic mass shooting in Buffalo have gone viral.
Not only are video footage of the shooting available on the internet, but reposted videos of the attack are occasionally displayed alongside Facebook ads.
It's unknown how frequently advertisements run alongside footage from the shooting.
However, this isn't a new phenomenon for Facebook. Following a shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019, the social media network is also experiencing the same issues.
