Lawmaker discusses regulating criminal acts on social media

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - As police in Buffalo, New York are continuing their investigation into the racially motivated mass shooting.

Investigators say the suspect allegedly started a live stream of the shooting on ‘Twitch.’

We had a similar case here in the CSRA when suspect Nathaniel Meade went live on Facebook while holding a woman hostage in his car.

Although the Twitch stream of the buffalo shooting was down within two minutes of going live, the Facebook video of Meade is still up without audio.

The closest Georgia has come to regulating this type of content was from a state Senate bill back in March. If passed, it would have tried to stop big social media companies from censoring or removing content.

Senator Harold Jones II says its federal implication is why it failed.

“We wouldn’t require Kroger to tell us how they make sure that persons don’t slip and fall. We wouldn’t require them to tell us every time a person is filing a lawsuit against you. But that’s what this bill particularly did,” he said.

While the bill failed to make any ground in the Georgia State House, Jones says it’s the first time he’s ever seen a bill like this even pass through the Senate.

“The thing that was very problematic was we’d basically be making these private companies tell us how they basically regulate their particular industry,” said Jones.

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