In connection with the mass shooting in Buffalo that killed 10 people, the New York attorney general's office announced Wednesday that it has begun an inquiry into tech platforms such as Twitch, Discord, and the anonymous message board 4chan, as per NPR.
My office is launching investigations into the social media companies that the Buffalo shooter used to plan, promote, and stream his terror attack.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) May 18, 2022
We are investigating Twitch, 4chan, 8chan, and Discord, among others, all platforms that the shooter used to amplify this attack.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement, "Time and time again, we have seen the real-world devastation that is borne of these dangerous and hateful platforms, and we are doing everything in our power to shine a spotlight on this alarming behavior and take action to ensure it never happens again."
How Did the Shooter Use These Social Media Platforms?
The suspect, who was identified as Payton Gendron, published a 180-page document detailing his belief in The Great Replacement, a right-wing, white supremacist conspiracy theory.
Details regarding how he planned and executed his attack were also included.
According to Mashable, the shooter said he was radicalized on 4chan in 2020. Other white supremacist mass shooters have already used that website to distribute their manifestos before their attacks. The gunman in Buffalo claimed that he also utilized 8chan to outline his plans.
The shooter used two mainstream platforms in addition to those two fringe websites: Twitch, a livestreaming platform, and Discord, a community messaging service.
According to logs from the shooter's private Discord channel, he used the site as a diary, discussing thoughts that would later turn deadly reality just this past weekend. Some of his Discord messages date back several months.
Regarding Twitch, the shooter used the video streaming service to livestream his deed over the internet. The stream was about ten minutes long.
NPR mentioned that the Twitch feed was taken down in less than two minutes. However, the gruesome footage rapidly went viral on the internet.
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James stated in her statement that the inquiry is focusing on Twitch, 4chan, 8chan, and Discord, but that other tech platforms may be investigated in the future.
Social Media Platforms Being Used in Crimes
The role of social media companies in radicalizing mass shooters and assisting individuals in amplifying violent footage is a fiercely discussed topic.
And it's a debate that's muddied by the legal situation in the U.S., where online platforms are given broad immunity from liability for what their users write.
"There are narrow ways to get around the legal shield, known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, including if a social media site carries content that violates a federal criminal law," the NPR report read.
Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, said that Section 230 does not apply to a suspect who commits a federal hate crime, and prosecutors also name an online service as a defendant. The chances of an internet service being found accountable for a user's hate crimes are extremely slim.
Goldman added that the legal road ahead for Attorney General James and other investigators aiming to hold tech giants accountable for how users use their services will always be difficult.
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