According to a report by the New York Attorney General, the man accused of killing 10 people at a Buffalo grocery store was radicalized by 4chan and live-streaming platforms.
In a new report, New York Attorney General Letitia James says the man who killed 10 people in Buffalo was motivated by radicalized social media content.
An investigative report into the May 14 shooting at the Tops grocery store in a historically Black neighborhood in Buffalo says the attack was motivated by white supremacist ideology and is part of an "epidemic of mass shootings" that are often carried out by young people.
The report said that the 18-year-old charged in the attack had viewed a lot of racist and antisemitic social media posts and was able to broadcast them.
According to James, Gendron kept an online journal on Discord laying out "hateful" beliefs and plans for the attack for the public to see, as well as posting graphic content and portions of a racist manifesto on 11 online sites.
James pushed online platforms to take further action to block violent criminal content, and suggested changing state law to criminalize "graphic" posts shared by homicides.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online social media platforms from civil lawsuits for most third-party content, was proposed to be reformed.
The shooting in Buffalo exposed the dangers of unmoderated online platforms that have become breeding grounds for white supremacy.
4chan has largely sidestepped issues around hate speech and graphic content on the site, despite the fact that policymakers have pushed them to act more stringently. According to the New York report, the First Amendment doesn't have an exemption for hate speech, but we can't rely on the industry to regulate itself through voluntary commitments.
Section 230 has drawn controversy in the past, with some members of both parties pushing for it to be modified or repealed. Section 230 is an argument that district and appeals courts have agreed with.
Gendron was charged with 26 counts of hate crimes, attempt to kill and use of a firearm to murder. He was accused of carrying out the attack to prevent Black people from replacing white people, and to encourage others to do the same. The Attorney General called it an act of racially-motivated violent extremists. President Joe said hate will not prevail in a speech in Buffalo after the shooting. The New York report states that the shooter who killed 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand was radicalized by racist, islamic, antisemitic and gay content on social media.
The suspect in the Buffalo shooting made a generalized threat at school last year.
The alleged Buffalo shooter was indicted for domestic terrorism.
The Buffalo mass shooting suspect was radicalized by fringe social media.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
