Gov. Hochul demands responsibility from social media companies after Buffalo shooting was live-streamed

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Governor Kathy Hochul called out social media companies in the wake of Saturday’s mass shooting in Buffalo, saying the platform providers must be more vigilant in monitoring hateful content.

“Mark my words: we’ll be aggressive in our pursuit of anyone who subscribes to the ideals professed by other white supremacists, and how there’s a feeding frenzy on social media platforms, where hate festers more hate,” she said. “That has to stop.”

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Gov. Hochul said the fact that the live-stream was not taken down sooner demonstrates a responsibility those who provide the platforms have, morally and ethically, to ensure hate cannot exist there. She also said she hopes it will also demonstrate a legal responsibility for those providers.

“The fact that this act of barbarism, this execution of innocent human beings could be live-streamed on social media platforms and not taken down within a second says to me that there is a responsibility out there … to ensure that such hate cannot populate these sites.”

The mass shooting was live-streamed on Twitch. A spokesperson from the streaming service said the stream was removed less than two minutes after the violence started.

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Hochul continued, focusing on how social media can be used to communicate hateful ideas and share them with others, resulting in incidents like this mass shooting.

“This is the result when you have individuals who use these platforms and talk to others who share these demented views, and support each other, and talk about the techniques that they’ll engage in, and post these ideas, and share them with others in the hope that they can all someday rise up in their demented view of the world,” Hochul said.