Twitch Praised

Ennan Zapanta May 18, 2022
Twitch Praised

Twitch has been hailed in the aftermath of the horrific mass shooting in Buffalo, New York over the weekend for their quick response to the streaming of the atrocity, which was first displayed on their platform.

The alleged shooter had only used his channel once before going live on the day of the shooting, but Twitch staff quickly deleted it to avoid further broadcasts. This hasn’t stopped many people on the internet and in politics from jumping in and attempting to pin the blame on social media firms, as is typically the case.

When viewed in context, the two-minute response time pales in comparison to the 17 minutes it took Facebook to take down the live stream of the Christchurch tragedy in 2019. Unfortunately, while Twitch moved quickly, the video was shared millions of times on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, and it is still being circulated today. Twitch’s vice president of trust and safety Angela Hession is described in the New York Times as noting that the site’s quick response was “very strong response time considering the challenges of live content moderation, and shows good progress.”

Ms. Hession stated in the same report that the site and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) were collaborating to try to stop the video from spreading further. The GIFCT is a non-profit alliance of social media companies and platforms founded to address the difficulties posed by terrorism, including its online propagation. 

The fact that the Buffalo shooter openly stated in his’manifesto’ that he was inspired in part by writings left behind after the Christchurch massacre makes the matter possibly more urgent. Psychology experts have long warned about the consequences of disclosing particular details about crimes of this sort.