Short of regulating extremist content on their platforms, tech giants such as Facebook and YouTube should offer countering or alternative viewpoints, says Jack McDevitt, director of Northeastern’s Institute on Race and Justice.
McDevitt, who has studied hate crimes since the 1990s, says that social media has become a “breeding ground” for people like the suspected perpetrators of the shooting during a prayer service Friday afternoon at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 50 people were killed and more than 30 were injured.
The attack was reportedly forewarned on Twitter and 8chan, livestreamed on Facebook, and shared widely on YouTube and Reddit. As videos, posts, and photos of the massacre proliferated, the social media giants hosting the content came under scrutiny for not acting more quickly to stop it from spreading.
