Invoking YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, Twitch and others, as well as fringe site 4chan, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James are calling for a government crackdown on online platforms, saying they contributed to the Buffalo mass shooting that left 10 dead and three injured.

Among the things they want to see are getting internet-service providers more involved in controlling edge provider content that leads to radicalization and violence, creating a version of “tape delay” for live streaming and the taking of “reasonable steps to prevent unlawful violent criminal content” — the quid pro quo for Section 230 immunity from liability for third-party content.

The pair released a report on the role of online platforms in the shooting that concluded, among other things, that “a lack of oversight, transparency and accountability of these platforms allowed hateful and extremist views to proliferate online, leading to radicalization and violence.”

They say there need to be changes made to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides immunity from civil liability for most third-party posts on social media platforms.

Among the changes they recommend are new state laws that would criminalize a perpetrator’s creation of graphic images of a homicide and would penalize with civil liability anyone or any platform that reshares or reposts such images or videos.

“The tragic shooting in Buffalo exposed the real dangers of unmoderated online platforms that have become breeding grounds for white supremacy,” said James, who shared the report's findings with victims’ families.

James was laying some of the blame for recent mass shootings on edge providers. “We saw this happen in Christchurch, Charlottesville, El Paso, and Buffalo, and we cannot wait for another tragedy before we take action,” she said. “Online platforms should be held accountable for allowing hateful and dangerous content to spread on their platforms.”

Following the shooting, Hochul, whose hometown is Buffalo, asked the attorney general’s office to produce the study. James’s office said it subpoenaed thousands of pages of documents obtained under subpoena from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Rumble.

The report concluded that:

• “Fringe Platforms Fuel Radicalization: By his own account, the Buffalo shooter was radicalized by virulent racist and antisemitic content on anonymous, virtually unmoderated websites and platforms that operate outside of the mainstream internet, most notably 4chan. In the wake of the Buffalo shooting, graphic video of the shooting recorded by a viewer of the shooter’s livestream proliferated on fringe sites. The anonymity offered by 4chan and platforms like it, and their refusal to moderate content in any meaningful way, ensures that these platforms continue to be breeding grounds for racist hate speech and radicalization.
• “Livestreaming Has Become a Tool for Mass Shooters: Livestreaming has become a tool of mass shooters to instantaneously publicize their crime, further terrorizing the community targeted by the shooter and serving as a mechanism to incite and solicit additional violent acts. The Buffalo shooter was galvanized by his belief that others would be watching him commit violence in real time. Although the platform he used to live-stream his atrocities disabled the live stream within two minutes of the onset of violence, two minutes is still too much.”
• “Mainstream Platforms’ Moderation Policies Are Inconsistent and Opaque: Many large, established platforms improved on their response time for identifying and removing problematic content related to the Buffalo shooting, including graphic video of the shooting and the shooter’s manifesto, as compared to past events. However, the platforms’ responses were uneven, with one platform unable to identify posts that linked to off-site copies of the shooting video even after those posts were flagged through user reports. Many platforms also do not fully disclose how they moderate hateful, extremist, or racist content.
• “Online Platforms Lack Accountability: Online platforms enjoy too much legal immunity. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act largely insulates platforms from liability for their content moderation decisions, even when a platform allows users to post and share unlawful content.”

Recommendations for Reform

Given those findings, Hochul and James said action was needed and recommended the following reforms:

• “Add Restrictions to Livestreaming: Livestreaming was used as a tool by the Buffalo shooter, like previous hate-fueled attacks, to instantaneously document and broadcast his violent acts to secure a measure of fame and radicalize others. Livestreaming on platforms should be subject to restrictions — including verification requirements and tape delays — tailored to identify first-person violence before it can be widely disseminated.
• “Reform Section 230: Currently, Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act protects online platforms from liability for third-party content that they host, regardless of those platforms’ moderation practices. Congress should rethink the ready availability of Section 230 as a complete defense for online platforms’ content moderation practices. Instead, the law should be reformed to require an online platform that wishes to retain Section 230’s protections to take reasonable steps to prevent unlawful violent criminal content from appearing on the platform. This proposal would change the default. Instead of simply being able to assert protection under Section 230, an online platform has the initial burden of establishing that its policies and practices were reasonably designed to address unlawful content.
• “Increase Transparency and Strengthen Moderation: Online platforms should provide better transparency into their content moderation policies and how those policies are applied in practice, including those that are aimed at addressing hateful, extremist, and racist content. They should also invest in improving industry-wide processes and procedures for reducing the prevalence of such content, including by expanding the types of content that can be analyzed for violations of their policies, improving detection technology, and providing even more efficient means to share information.
• “Call on Industry Service Providers to Do More: Online service providers, like domain registrars and hosting companies, stand in between fringe sites and users. These companies should take a closer look at the websites that repeatedly traffic in violent, hateful content, and refuse to service sites that perpetuate the cycle of white supremacist violence." ■

The vast majority of locations in New York State — 97.4% — are already served with high-speed broadband, raising the issue of just how much broadband subsidy money the Empire State will need from the tens of billions of dollars the Biden administration is putting toward closing the digital divide.

The 97.4% figure is according to the Broadband Assessment Program overseen by the New York State Public Service Commission. States were charged by Congress in the Comprehensive Broadband Connectivity Act of 2021 to conduct an annual assessment and map of broadband availability.

According to that report and map, 5,139,017 locations (97.4%) in New York are served by at least two providers with at least one of those offering high-speed service, defined as speeds of at least 100 Megabits per second downstream and 10 Mbps upstream. 

Also: FCC Slates Broadband Data Collection Webinar

Less than 1% (it does not even register on the above graphic), or only 5,997 locations, are consider underserved, defined as speeds “of at least 25 [Mbps] download but less than 100 Mbps download,“ and with only one ISP.

That leaves 132,601 locations, or 2.5%, unserved, which is defined as having either no fixed wireless service at all, or service “with speeds of less than 25 Mbps download available.“

All those definitions were assigned by the New York State Legislature.

The availability map drew from four data sources: 1) the New York State “Street and Address Maintenance (SAM) Program” for the location fabric; 2) data collected from ISPs; 3) a “Fiber Optic and Coaxial Asset Inventory Program;” and 4) input from the public and other stakeholders.

In a story about the new map, WGRZ Buffalo reported that some of the ISP data comes from the FCC’s Form 477 collection, which has been highly criticized and is still in the process of being revamped.

The PSC did field testing in some of the remotest areas to fact check the ISPs, but the station's consumer reporters said they clearly found some gaps in the numbers.

The PSC provided this caveat about the ISP numbers: “The information contained in this Map has, in part, been collected from ISPs operating in New York who were asked to provide reasonable representations of their respective internet service areas. Determining each ISP‘s service area without a field inspection verification of every address may yield discrete inaccuracies, and while the Department conducted field inspections in the most remote areas of the State of New York to corroborate information received from the various ISPs, it was not feasible to verify 100% of the addresses in the field.” ■

Netflix is planning to create a production hub in New York, bringing hundreds of additional jobs and up to $100 million in investment to the city, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

According to the Governor, the production hub will include an expanded office in Manhattan that will directly create 127 high-paying executive content, marketing and production development jobs over the next five years, and six sound stages in Brooklyn with the capacity to hold thousands of production crew jobs within five years.

"Netflix is innovative, creative and bold - just like New Yorkers - and the expansion of this cutting-edge company in New York once again demonstrates the Empire State is open for business," Governor Cuomo said in a press release announcing the move. "We're proud Netflix chose New York to grow its business, and we look forward to the jobs, economic activity and world-class productions this project will bring."

Netflix's new corporate offices will take up approximately 100,000 square feet at 888 Broadway in Manhattan's Flatiron District. The offices will house the 127 new executive content acquisition, development, production, legal, publicity and marketing positions in addition to Netflix's 32 current New York-based employees.

In return for creating jobs, Netflix will receive up to $4 million in performance-based Excelsior Tax Credits over ten years from Empire State Development, which are directly tied to real job creation. To receive the full incentive, Netflix must create the 127 jobs by 2024 at its new executive production office and then retain those new jobs and their existing 32 office jobs for another five years.

"New York has created a film-friendly environment that's home to some of the best creative and executive talent in the world, and we're excited to provide a place for them at Netflix with our production hub," said Netflix’s director of worldwide studio operations & real estate Jason Hariton in a press release.

Netflix has a long history of production in New York -- Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, She's Gotta Have It, The Irishman, Someone Great, Private Life and Russian Doll were all produced in the city. The leased Brooklyn space will enable the company to build six sound stages and support stages, which are expected to house thousands of production jobs within five years.

The New York State legislature has passed a bill that would provide tax incentives for hiring diverse writers and directors for TV productions in New York, according to the unions that have been pushing the legislation.

The bill was backed by the Writers Guild of America, East (based in New York) and the Directors Guild of America.

Related > The Production Issue

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo still needs to approve the new tax credit, and it must be included in the state budget, but the passage was a milestone being hailed by WGAE and DGA.

"People in the TV industry have understood for years that enhancing the diversity of writing and directing improves the stories that appear on screen,” said Lowell Peterson, executive director of WGAE in a joint statement. “The missing link for policymakers has been putting money at the point of hire, and this legislation is an important step in that direction.”

Neil Dudich, eastern executive director of the DGA, said: "For years the DGA has pushed the industry to change their imbalanced hiring practices -- so that talent, and talent alone, is the defining factor. By encouraging studios, networks and producers to discover the talented New York TV directors and writers that are out there in abundance, this bill can be a meaningful step forward in establishing a level playing field for all."