The attack spurred fears over the monitoring of livestreams and radicalization.
"It's an improvement, but needless to say, obviously it's not a perfect answer," Holt told ABC News."Moderating live content has proven to be a massive challenge to tech platforms." In general, tech platforms police content through both automated systems and manual decisions made by individuals, Alice Marwick, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who specializes in the study of social media, told ABC News.
Livestreams pose such difficulty because they can evade the automated systems, forcing platforms to rely on human moderators who sometimes cannot handle the overwhelming volume of incoming content, she said. "The size and scale of the number of livestreams that there are on a daily basis make it impossible to moderate them completely," she said.More than 8 million users broadcast live on Twitch each month, and the site features an average of more than 2.5 million hours of video every day, Twitch Global Head of Trust and Safety Angela Hession told ABC News in a statement. "We've invested heavily in our sitewide safety operations and in the people and technologies who drive them, and will continue to do so," she said. Platforms could further limit livestream incidents like what happened in Buffalo by implementing a time-delay for live footage, like television stations do, Marwick and Holt said. The companies could also ensure that users must be verified before gaining the ability to livestream, as YouTube does.But livestreaming will not be removed from the platforms altogether, Holt said, citing companies like Twitch that depend on livestreaming for their business."The cat is out of the proverbial bag," he said. Even a brief livestream can end up reaching a large audience. As noted, in the case of the video of the shooting in Buffalo, a copy of the livestreamed video received millions of views after a link on Facebook helped drive traffic to it, the Washington Post reported.Attorney Ben Crump comforts family members of Ruth Whitfield, who was killed during a shooting at a Tops supermarket, during a news conference in Buffalo, New York, May 16, 2022. A spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, told ABC News that the company on Saturday quickly designated the event as a"violating terrorist attack," which prompted an internal process to identify and remove the account of the identified suspect, as well as copies of his alleged document and any copy of or link to video of his alleged attack. The move ensures that any copies of or links to the video, writing or other content that praises, supports or represents the suspect will be removed, the spokesperson added. In a statement, Twitch told ABC News:"We are devastated to hear about the shooting that took place in Buffalo, New York. Our hearts go out to the community impacted by this tragedy. Twitch has a zero-tolerance policy against violence of any kind and works swiftly to respond to all incidents." "The user has been indefinitely suspended from our service, and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content," the statement added.Content monitors also face a challenge from message boards and other sites that feature white supremacist ideology and can radicalize users. Since such content is offensive and dangerous but oftentimes legal, the onus falls on platforms to take an aggressive approach to remove it, Holt told ABC News. Not all platforms bring the same level of rigor to the task, he added. The anonymous imageboard website 4chan is known for the appearance of hateful content. The alleged shooter in Buffalo named 4chan as a site he had visited. The website has not responded to ABC News' request for comment.Law enforcement personnel search a shed at the home of Buffalo supermarket shooting suspect Payton Gendron in Conklin, New York, May 15, 2022. Hateful content can migrate from alternative platforms to more mainstream ones, allowing such messages to reach a wider audience before they are addressed, Holt said. "There may be awful things on seedier internet platforms like 4chan," he said."The internet doesn't exist as perfectly siloed platforms." The alleged shooter also posted messages online in a private group on Discord, a social media platform. It's unclear who had access to the group. According to ABC News consultant and former Department of Homeland Security official John Cohen, Discord is a popular platform mostly with high school-aged teenagers and has been used to spread conspiracy theories. "We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families. Hate and violence have no place on Discord. We are doing everything we can to assist law enforcement in the investigation," a spokesperson for Discord told ABC News in a statement.Online radicalization takes place over a prolonged period, affording multiple opportunities for platforms to step in, said Marwick, the professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "When people do get radicalized online, it's not something that happens in an instant," she said."Sometimes people like to think about this as a flash of lightning -- that's not how this works" "It takes place over a period of time," she adds."There are possible points of intervention before it gets to this point."
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hot off the Wire: Listen to today's top storiesGet caught up with our daily podcast recapping top news, including: Oklahoma approves abortion law, U.S. to send aid to Ukraine and accused Buffalo shooter indicted.
Read more »
Twitter announces 'crisis misinformation' expansion of moderation policy.Twitter has updated its content moderation policy to affect what information may be shared in times of crisis.
Read more »
Body armor, worn by the Buffalo shooter, faces far fewer regulations than gunsA security guard at the Tops market tried to fire back at the shooter, but his fire struck body armor instead. Experts say use of body armor by mass shooters has trended up in recent years.
Read more »
Proenza Schouler Teams With Alibaba’s Tmall for Livestream and Digital Store LaunchOn Friday morning, Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez made their livestream and store debut on Alibaba’s Tmall platform.
Read more »
Texas Cites Clarence Thomas to Defend Its Social Media LawAs Big Tech tried to block the state’s ban on content moderation, Texas leaned on the US Supreme Court justice’s interpretation of free speech law.
Read more »