House Homeland Security Chairman Thompson: Tech Companies Must Work to Stop Spread of Terrorist Content

After last week’s deadly white-nationalist domestic terror attack on two New Zealand mosques, and the shooter’s concurrent live-stream of the attack, House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), has written a letter to the CEOs of four major technology companies (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Microsoft) urging them to prioritize the immediate removal of violent terrorist content, including that of far-right, domestic terrorists. In the letter, Chairman Thompson requested a briefing from the companies the week of March 25 on their efforts to prevent the dissemination of this type of violent content moving forward. "Your companies must prioritize responding to these toxic and violent ideologies with resources and attention. If you are unwilling to do so, Congress must consider policies to ensure that terrorist content is not distributed on your platforms—including by studying the examples being set by other countries," Chairman Thompson wrote.