US House panel asks Discord, Steam, Twitch, Reddit CEOs to testify over radicals after Kirk killing
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Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the shooting death of political activist Charlie Kirk, appearing via camera on Sept 16 for his initial court appearance.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – A US House committee on Sept 17 asked the chief executive officers of online platforms Discord, Steam, Amazon-owned Twitch and Reddit to testify at an Oct 8 hearing following the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk
Mr Kirk, 31, co-founder of the conservative student movement Turning Point USA and a key ally of US President Donald Trump, was speaking at an event attended by about 3,000 people when he was gunned down last week.
“In the wake of this tragedy, and amid other acts of politically motivated violence, Congress has a duty to oversee the online platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence,” Republican Representative James Comer, chair of the US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter to the four companies.
Discord said it welcomed the opportunity to testify. “We continuously engage with policymakers on these critical issues and look forward to continuing this important dialogue next month,” a company spokesperson said.
Reddit said it is continuing to investigate but has not yet found evidence that the suspect in Mr Kirk’s death was active on Reddit. The company added it “has strong policies against hateful content and content that incites, encourages, glorifies or calls for violence”.
The other companies did not respond to requests for comment.
The letter to the companies said: “The hearing will examine radicalisation of online forum users, including incidents of open incitement to commit violent politically motivated acts.”
Roughly two out of three Americans believe that harsh rhetoric common in politics is encouraging violence, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the days following Mr Kirk’s murder. REUTERS
