New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced that her office is officially looking into several social platforms, including Twitch and Discord. This action is in response to the mass shooting that took place at a Tops Friendly Markets store on May 14 in Buffalo, NY killing ten Black civilians.
“My office is launching investigations into the social media companies that the Buffalo shooter used to plan, promote, and stream his terror attack,” the Attorney General shared on her Twitter account. “We are investigating Twitch, 4chan, 8chan, and Discord, among others, all platforms that the shooter used to amplify this attack.”
Twitch and Discord are the two notable platforms that already have known connections to the shooting. The shooter, Payton S. Gendron, streamed on Twitch for two minutes while he was firing before the platform took down the broadcast. Twitch later made a statement to CNN saying “…we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content.”
Gendron also used Discord to plan the shooting and invited several people to a private server shortly before the shooting took place. According to the Washington Post, Gendron allegedly left a 180-page document detailing his racial viewpoints on the server as well. Discord said to The New York Times “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.” 4chan and 8chan have yet to make any statement regarding the shooting.
Attorney General James hopes that these investigations will help bring accountability to Twitch, Discord, and the other sites at hand. “This terror attack again revealed the depths and dangers of these platforms that spread and promote hate without consequence,” said James. “We are doing everything in our power to stop this dangerous behavior now and ensure it never happens again.”
The gaming industry at large has kept relatively quiet about the shooting. However, Destiny 2 developer Bungie has made a pledge to donate some store profits to charity for the next year.
