The racist mass shooter planned and shared his whole attack online

 

Twitch and Discord knew they had a problem, but didn't act fast enough.

Justice for the 10 Victims That Died in the Buffalo Shooting, a Violent Attack by a White Supremacist

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On Saturday, May 14, a gunman violently murdered 10 people while they were shopping at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. The individuals, aged between 32 and 86 years old, all died because an 18-year-old white supremacist felt empowered to go on a racist killing spree, all "in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology," as the president put it. We know a great deal about why he did what he did, for how long he premeditated the murders, and how he went about committing such a heinous action. How do we know? The shooter avidly used online platforms such as Twitch and Discord to plan and publicize his assault far in advance.   The man who killed 10 innocent people shared online that he was motivated by "replacement theory," a right-wing fringe conspiracy theory that alleges people of color supposedly have a plan to systematically and deliberately replace white people. He even published his checklist of pre-shooting "to-do" items on Discord. Because of this advance notice, his followers on the chat platform were ready and able to download the shocking footage as he streamed his massacre live on Twitch. Authorities have since arrested the shooter and are investigating the shooting as the hate crime it clearly was. But the situation should never have escalated to this point.   While Internet sites like Twitch and Discord are not, strictly speaking, responsible for what their users post online, they do have a responsibility to conduct shrewd, vigorous community moderation in their spaces in order to prevent horrific violence. The Internet has become one of the primary ways of disseminating information — whether that information is legitimate news, or hateful rants and planned assaults. Because of this, what happens on social media sites has very real bearing on what happens in the physical world. It is up to those in power to make this shared virtual space as safe as possible. Sign the petition to urge Twitch and Discord to take swift, powerful action against white supremacists who use their platforms to perpetuate hate and violence.

Thank you, Miranda Care2 Petitions Team

P.S. Prior to the mass shooting, people working at Twitch and Discord knew they had an issue with users spewing racism, anti-Semistism, sexism, and other forms of hate on their platforms. Sign the petition now.      Sign Now

excerpt:

Authorities investigating Buffalo shooter’s prior threats against school, mental health

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white gunman accused of committing a racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket made threatening comments that brought police to his high school last spring, but he was never charged with a crime and had no further contact with law enforcement after his release from a hospital, officials said.

The revelation raised questions about whether his encounter with police and the mental health system was yet another missed opportunity to put a potential mass shooter under closer law enforcement scrutiny, get him help, or make sure he didn’t have access to deadly firearms.

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