New York governor demands social media platforms do more to stop terror attack livestreams
New York governor Kathy Hochul is calling on social media companies to do more to prevent terrorists and mass murderers from broadcasting attacks on their platforms. The call comes in the wake of a mass shooting that took place on May 14 in Buffalo, New York, in which a heavily-armed white supremacist livestreamed the murders of ten people and wounded three more at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood
According to a New York Times report, the shooter planned out aspects of his rampage, with notes like «continue writing manifesto» and «test livestream function before the actual attack,» on a private Discord server. The attack itself was livestreamed on Twitch.
Discord told the Times that it is cooperating with law enforcement authorities investigating the shooter's use of Discord, but would not comment further.
«We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families, and we will do everything we can to assist law enforcement in the investigation,» the company said.
For its part, a Twitch representative said the livestreaming platform «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,» Twitch said.
The service also noted that the shooter's Twitch channel was taken offline less than two minutes after he began his rampage.
This is not the first time a premeditated hate crime has been broadcast on the internet. A 2019 attack on a synagogue in Germany, in which two people were killed, was also broadcast on Twitch, while attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, which
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