Gov. Hochul says Twitch was an ACCOMPLICE to Buffalo supermarket shooter's racist murder spree

NY Governor Kathy Hochul accuses Twitch of being an ACCOMPLICE to Buffalo supermarket shooter’s massacre by letting him live-stream ‘racist’ murder of ten people – but firm says it was taken down in less than two minutes

  • A Twitch spokesperson told DailyMail.com that their teams were scouring the platform for any republishing of Payton Gendron’s racist killing spree in Buffalo
  • Gov. Hochul said that social media platforms ‘can in a sense become an accomplice if not legally, but morally’
  • The governor added her belief that violent livestreams should be removed in a ‘second’ 
  •  Twitch says: ‘Any accounts posting real world violence are indefinitely suspended’

New York Governor Kathy Hochul called streaming site Twitch an ‘accomplice’ in the racially motivated murder of 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo on May 14. 

Payton Gendron, 18, livestreamed his massacre on the social media platform, which is primarily used by video gamers. 

But Hochul said that Twitch had enabled killers like Gendron to glorify their crimes to huge audiences, and possibly encourage others to copy them.

A source told DailyMail.com Saturday that the clip had been removed in under two minutes from when it was first uploaded.

But that cut little ice with Hochul, who said it should have been wiped within seconds.  

The governor told the media in the aftermath of the shooting: ‘The social media platforms that profit from their existence need to be responsible for monitoring. They can in a sense become an accomplice if not legally, but morally.’ 

She continued: ‘These outlets must be more vigilant in monitoring social media content and certainly the fact that this act of barbarism, this execution of innocent human beings could be livestreamed on social media platforms and not taken down within a second says to me that there is a responsibility out there.

‘And were going to continue to work on this and make sure that those who provide those platforms have a moral and ethical and I hope to have a legal responsibility to ensure that such hate cannot populate these sites. 

Gov. Hochul told the media in the aftermath of the shooting that social media platforms should be able to remove violent content in a 'second'

Gov. Hochul told the media in the aftermath of the shooting that social media platforms should be able to remove violent content in a ‘second’

‘Because 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.’

A Twitch spokesperson told DailyMail.com that they are ‘devastated’ following the that was livestreamed on their platform. 

According to the gaming giant, the livestream of Gendron’s racist rampage was removed from their platform in less than two minutes using a combination of human review and proactive detection. 

In November 2022, Hochul will stand for election for a full term as governor of New York. 

The governor said that she believes ‘social media platforms’ should be able to remove violent livestreams ‘in a second.’ In those comments, Hochul did not mention Twitch by name. 

The governor said: ‘The fact that this act of barbarism, this execution of innocent human beings could be livestreamed on social media platforms and not taken down within a second says to me that there is a responsibility.’ 

The full statement from Twitch read: ‘We are devastated to hear about the shooting that took place this afternoon 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.’ 

Payton Gendron being taken into custody in Buffalo. Twitch told The Daily Mail that any account 'posting real world violence are indefinitely suspended'

Payton Gendron being taken into custody in Buffalo. Twitch told The Daily Mail that any account ‘posting real world violence are indefinitely suspended’

 A Twitch spokesperson said that the tech’s giant’s teams were monitoring for any republishing of Gendron’s stream. 

The company said that they were unaware of any video on demand copies of the livestream being made. Gendron did not use the video on demand option when doing his livestream, a spokesperson told DailyMail.com 

If any users were found to have uploaded real world violent content, they face an indefinite suspension.

Twitch said that: ‘As in any situation like this, we will cooperate with law enforcement as appropriate.’ The company later told us that: ‘We have a zero tolerance policy against violence of any kind, and any accounts posting real world violence are indefinitely suspended.’

Gendron’s live stream was ephemeral video that disappears after being broadcast. Users can opt to save and store live streams but Twitch is unaware of any saved versions of the massacre. 

In October 2019, 2200 people viewed a Twitch livestream of a mass shooting in a German synagogue, reported the BBC.

While in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque massacre of March 2019, which was livestreamed on Facebook by perpetrator Brenton Harrison Tarrant, trolls began spamming Twitch users with violent footage from that incident. 

source: dailymail.co.uk