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The video showed a guy ranting against Jews, feminism and immigrants before shooting two people.
(JTA) — As Jews across the globe marked the holiest day of the year on Wednesday, news broke of an attack near a synagogue in the town of Halle de Gerguy. With about 50 worshippers amassed for the Yom Kippur service, the Gunguy attempted to enter the synagogue and, when that failed, shot a vagio and a boy in a closed Toby’s kebab shop, killing them both.
A terrifying detail gave the impression of the attack: the shooter had broadcast it live online.
Users of Twitch, a streaming platform for video game enthusiasts, could watch as the gunman railed against Jews, feminism and immigrants before he shot the two victims to death. It was an eerie reminder of the killing of 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March, which was streamed live on Facebook.
German police identified the Halle suspect as 27-year-old Stephan Balliet, who lived with his mother in a nearby town.
Though the video did not remain on Twitch for long, it was captured and shared on other platforms.
This is what you want to know about Twitch, which makes it exclusive and how it is for other places used by extremists.
What is Twitch?
Launched in 2011, the site allows users to live video. It started as a spin-off through Justin. tv, named Justin Kan, a Yale graduate who attached a camera to his hat and streamed his life for nine months. Three years later, its parent company, Twitch Interactive, shut down Justin. tv to focus on rapidly emerging Twitch. In 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch Interactive for $970 million.
Twitch, which claims to have over 15 million active users, is basically used through gamers to spread through gambling video games. Some videos demonstrate the player’s screen while playing, while others demonstrate the player talking to the camera. There are categories for game types, as well as the “just chat” section, in which users can find it difficult to communicate about anything. A 2017 New Yorker article said that peak popular users can get $2 million a year streaming videos on the site.
Wednesday’s shooting was not the first captured on Twitch. Last year, a shooter opened the fireplace in a multitude game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. Although you can’t see the shooting, shots and screams you can hear the transmission.
Twitch has also faced court cases from female gamers who said they were harassed through the site’s more commonly male user base.
How does Twitch compare to sites used through extremists?
Far-right attackers have used a number of websites to promote themselves. Robert Bowers, the suspect in last year’s Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, used Gab to rail against Jews and immigrants. Suspects in three shootings — Christchurch, a synagogue in Poway, California, and a Walmart in El Paso — allegedly posted manifestos on 8chan, an internet forum that was taken offline in August.
But Twitch differs from those sites and similar ones, such as 4chan, where bulk moderation policies tend to attract extremists. The game’s site “is not in general an extremist platform,” said Oren Segal, director of the Anti-Divisional League’s extremism half.
“Most of the activity in this is for absolutely valid purposes,” Segal told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Thursday. “The challenge that all platforms have is how they deal with this segment of users who want to exploit them out of hatred, bigotry and violence. “
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have fought with this, and have been criticized for doing enough to combat hate messages in their sites.
“No matter what that platform is, extremists will find it and try to exploit it,” Segal said. “And it just underscores the broader ecosystem that needs to be addressed when approaching ways to push back against this hatred.”
How did Twitch answer?
On Wednesday, the site said that “shocked and sad” through the shooting and that “it has a zero tolerance policy opposed to hateful behavior. ” Twitch said the shooting suspect transmitted the attack for 35 minutes, but only five other people saw it live. A recording of the stream noticed about 2,200 people before being eliminated, the site said.
— Twitch (@twitch) October 9, 2019
Although the video was removed, it had already been recorded through Internet users. They published the video on popular platforms among white supremacists: the Telegram chat application and forums like 4chan.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associated dean of the Simon Wiecenthal Center, reported that social media sites do not allow snapshot live broadcast. Instead of, he said, they institute a retention feature so that the videos can be projected to obtain violent content before they can be seen.
“Extremists of all types are now incorporating live broadcast functions to make a splash, spread terror worldwide, use it as one to put on the map with other extremists,” Cooper to JTA told.
Why did the suspect contract?
It’s impossible to say for sure, but Segal says that gaming vernacular has become increasingly common among young violent extremists discussing violent attacks online.
“We’ve noticed that online spaces react not only through glorifying attacks, but comment on how the shooter killed more people than the other, or didn’t, who will get the score,” he said.
The younger demographic of Twitch users may also be appealing.
“I think naturally as gaming becomes more part of the culture more broadly, we’re seeing how that sort of gaming ideas play out within extremist spaces as well,” Segal said. “In that sense, gaming platforms may be particularly vulnerable moving forward to the exploitation from extremists”
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