New York AG opens probe into social media platforms that Buffalo shooter was active on before massacre
New York Attorney General Letitia James has opened an investigation into social media companies in the wake the mass shooting in Buffalo carried out by a white supremacist Payton Gendron, Axios reports.
The investigation will look into online resources the shooter reportedly used to develop and plan his attack that killed 10 and wounded three. The platforms targeted by the investigation include Twitch, 4chan, 8chan and Discord.
“The terror attack in Buffalo has once again revealed the depths and danger of the online forums that spread and promote hate,” James said in a statement.
“The fact that an individual can post detailed plans to commit such an act of hate without consequence, and then stream it for the world to see is bone-chilling and unfathomable," she added.
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In his writing, the 18-year-old suspect said he came by his views while surfing the often radical discussion site 4chan and other conspiracy-theory websites amid "extreme boredom" during Covid lockdowns.
Much of his manifesto is lifted directly from the "Great Replacement" text posted by the Christchurch killer, Brenton Tarrant, which claims that white Europeans were threatened by "ethnic replacement" and "genocide."
"Brenton started my real research into the problems with immigration and foreigners in our white lands, without his livestream I would likely have no idea about the real problems the West is facing," Gendron wrote.
Gendron spelled out in meticulous detail his plans for the attacks, choosing the target, selecting his arms, body armor, and other equipment, and how he would live-stream it with a helmet-mounted camera, just as Tarrant had done.
With additional reporting by AFP
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