New Zealand mass shooting illustrates failure of tech companies to prevent radicalization on their platforms
NBC’s Ben Collins: Because of algorithm suggestions on tech platforms, people “go down rabbit holes” and “maybe they start as racists and they end up as extremists"
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Discussing the shooting at two New Zealand mosques that left at least 49 dead at the hands of an anti-Muslim extremist, NBC reporter Ben Collins noted that the alleged shooter showed signs of “getting radicalized by these same algorithms” on tech platforms such as YouTube that previously influenced other mass shooters.
YouTube has a serious radicalization problem because its algorithm sometimes pushes far-right content via recommendations, which Collins noted can cause people to “go down rabbit holes” and “maybe they start as racists and they end up as extremists,” leading to harassment, racist violence, and terrorism. Collins also compared the alleged Christchurch shooter’s reported announcement of the attack on far-right message board 8chan to the alleged Pittsburgh, PA, shooter’s announcement of his attack on Gab, a social media platform that is a hotbed for white nationalists.
The alleged New Zealand mosque shooter livestreamed the attack on Facebook, and it was also shared on YouTube and Twitter, but the social media platforms have struggled to remove the video. Tech companies have been ill-equipped to proactively deal with this kind of content, in some ways leaving the task of combating it to the most affected communities.
Collins said that the tech platforms “can stop this” and prevent such radicalization in advance, noting that they have effectively fought ISIS content but have treated far-right extremist content as “a political issue that it really isn't,” presenting it as political speech rather than a gateway to terrorism.
From the March 15 edition of MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle: