FACEBOOK, YouTube and Twitter did not invent the violent white-supremacist ideology that allegedly animated those who slaughtered 50 people at two New Zealand mosques on Friday. Neither did Reddit, 4chan, 8chan and the other forums at the Web’s darkened edges where the massacre was discussed. The fallout from Friday’s attack shows how the cogs of the Internet’s complex machinery can grind together to make evil go viral. Then there is the alleged shooter’s 74-page manifesto, posted to Twitter and 8chan ahead of the attack. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter must be faster, and smarter, in response to footage like Friday’s, but it’s not clear how they could prevent such an incident altogether.

Source: Washington Post March 16, 2019 23:15 UTC