Buffalo Shooter Was Inspired By 4chan Posts, Sparking Discussion About Memes And Online Radicalization
The mass shooter who murdered 10 people at a mall in Buffalo, New York this weekend in a racially motivated terrorist attack was apparently radicalized by “memes and shitposts,” according to his manifesto that was shared online.
According to the 180-page manifesto released by the killer, the 18-year-old was a frequent user of 4chan’s /pol/ and termed himself a “fascist,” “anti-semite” and proponent of the "great replacement" conspiracy theory. He was inspired by footage of the 2019 Christchurch Mosque Shooting, which was livestreamed on Twitch. The shooter streamed a video of his own attack on Twitch that, despite being taken down from the platform, has since spread across social media and the internet.
Commentators on social media expressed grief and anger at the spread of white nationalism in online communities.
Others criticized the culture and structure of unmoderated online communities where young people become radicalized, countering those who insist that posts on platforms like 4chan do not have real-world consequences.
The news that the shooter was inspired by memes also led some to reflect on aspects of mainstream meme culture and meme formats that come from 4chan and forums like it.
On the opposite side, others defended 4chan from its critics, though some faced backlash for their stance.
As internet extremism researcher Joshua Citarella, who specializes in studying teenagers radicalized by internet memes, said to Meme Insider in the June issue’s upcoming interview, “Posting does matter, posting wields influence. And for some reason that has a lot of people very upset. I think they don’t like the possibility that they're posting what they feel is transgressive and gives them a sense of autonomy and freedom in a world where there is increasingly little freedom and autonomy … could have been instrumentalized by any actor.”
The discussion about violent memes combined with the ongoing conversation spurred by Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter. People online wondered about the kind of influence posting wields, and how to deal with it. The difficult task of balancing free speech concerns with the need to counter online violence and hate is rapidly becoming one of the most prominent policy and cultural questions of the internet in 2022.