Letitia James, the New York State Attorney General, has issued a statement about the recent racist shooting in Buffalo, New York, and has launched a likely-unconstitutional investigation into the online platforms Twitch, Discord, and 8Chan under the claim that they were used by the shooter. The shooter used Twitch to live-stream the killings.
The investigation marks the continuance of the recent trend for politicians to shift the blame to internet platforms for the failures within society and to use incidents such as this to call for more censorship.
It is widely understood, even by the more overzealous US politicians, that it would be wrong to investigate a broadcast network or a media outlet over the content it carries, as such actions are prohibited by the First Amendment. However, politicians are always quick to do so with online platforms, even though the content on the platforms is not created by the platforms themselves, but by their users.
AG James states that she is going to examine the social media platforms that the shooter used to promote his attack on local citizens in Buffalo.
“The terror attack in Buffalo has once again revealed the depths and danger of the online forums that spread and promote hate”, said AG James. “The fact that an individual can post detailed plans to commit such an act of hate without consequence, and then ...
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