NY AG Report: Social Media Played Major Role In Radicalizing Buffalo Mass Shooter
The New York Attorney General’s office released a report Tuesday (Oct. 18) that demands accountability from online platforms that enabled the racially motivated killing of 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket in May. It calls for several changes, including federal and state reforms to combat online extremism.
“For too long, hate and division have been spreading rampant on online platforms — and as we saw in my hometown of Buffalo, the consequences are devastating,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who asked the AG’s office to study the role websites played in the massacre.
According to prosecutors, on May 14 Payton Gendron, now 19, entered the Tops Friendly Markets store with a military-style assault rifle and opened fire. He allegedly researched the local demographics and chose that supermarket to kill as many Black people as possible. The investigation found Gendron had repeatedly visited online sites that promoted white supremacist ideologies and race-based conspiracy theories.
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The AG’s office subpoenaed several companies and reviewed thousands of pages of documents and social media content to find out how Gedron used the platforms to plan, prepare and publicize his attack, according to a statement.
Their research concluded that fringe online platforms radicalized Gendron, and he weaponized livestreaming sites to publicize his attack and encourage copycat violence. The report also condemned a lack of oversight and accountability of the platforms that allowed extremism to spread online.
“The tragic shooting in Buffalo exposed the real dangers of unmoderated online platforms that have become breeding grounds for white supremacy,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, who met with the victims’ families to discuss the report.
According to the report, fringe platforms fuels radicalization. James’ office examined multiple platforms that Gendron used, including 8kun, 4chan, Discord, Reddit, Twitch and YouTube. Their research included sites where they discovered graphic content and Gendron’s manifesto, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Rumble.
The report highlighted 4chan as the most notable of the virtually unmoderated websites outside the mainstream internet. A recording of Gendron’s livestream of the shooting circulated on fringe sites. It condemned the sites’ refusal to meaningfully moderate the content, making the platforms “breeding grounds for racist hate speech and radicalization.”
According to the report, Gendron used his livestream to publicize the shooting and terrorize the Black community. It noted that the platform he used disabled the livestream within two minutes, but “two minutes is still too much.”
The report recommends a number of livestreaming platform restrictions and reforms, including tape delays. It also calls for changes to Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act to increase accountability of online platforms. The law protects online platforms from liability for third-party content that they host, regardless of those platforms’ moderation practices.
Further, it demands more transparency into moderation policies and how the platforms apply their policies, including policies focused on addressing racist and extremist content.
“Online platforms should be held accountable for allowing hateful and dangerous content to spread on their platforms,” James said in her statement. “Extremist content is flourishing online, and we must all work together to confront this crisis and protect our children and communities.”
