
Image source: YouTube screenshot
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) wasted no time using the atrocious Buffalo mass killing to push for more government control over the lives of Americans.
In appearances on multiple Sunday cable news shows, Hochul advocated for government intervention to stop so-called "hate speech" from spreading online. She credited such content with radicalizing the perpetrator of the Buffalo massacre.
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Hochul said the "bone-chilling" aspect of the killer's manifesto "is that there is the ability for people to write and subscribe to such philosophies filled with hate, the white supremacist acts of terrorism that have been fomented on social media."
She added that she wants the CEOs of every major social media platform to "look me in the eye and tell me that everything is being done that they can to make sure that this information is not spread."
Later in the interview, Hochul demanded new "national laws" to restrict the Second Amendment and "the unfettered sharing of hate information on the internet." She described firearms and the aforementioned hate information as a "lethal combination."
In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Hochul took her rhetoric further, blaming social media companies and TV commentators for spreading the type of information that radicalized the Buffalo killer.
"They need to be held accountable as well," she said of such TV commentators. "And any government leader that does not condemn this and condemn it today is a coward, and they're also partially responsible."
Not only did she also place blame on elected officials, but she called for new, unconstitutional restrictions against so-called "hate speech."
So let's just be real honest about the role of elected leaders. And what they need to be doing is calling this out and not coddling this behavior and saying that, "Well, that's just young people and they're sharing their ideas." Yeah, I'll protect the First Amendment any day of the week. But you don't protect hate speech. You don't protect incendiary speech. You're not allowed to scream "fire" in a crowded theater. There are limitations on speech. And right now, we have seen this run rampant. And as a result, I have ten dead neighbors in this community. And it hurts. And we're going to do something about it.
Meet The Press Broadcast (Full) - May 15youtu.be
In an interview on ABC's "This Week," Hochul repeated the same message and claimed that "hate speech" is not protected speech, which is patently false.
"The CEOs of those companies need to be held accountable and assure all of us that they're taking every step humanly possible to be able to monitor this information," she said.
Hochul then demanded that so-called hate speech "be monitored and shut down the second these words are espoused out there in these platforms."
"And short of that, we will protect the right to free speech, but there is a limit. There is a limit to what you can do and hate speech is not protected," she claimed.
\u201cHow these depraved ideas are fermenting on social media\u2014it\u2019s spreading like a virus now.\u201d \n\nAfter mass shooting at Buffalo supermarket in alleged hate crime, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul tells @GStephanopoulos that tech platforms must do more to stop hate speech. https://abcn.ws/3Neul9X\u00a0pic.twitter.com/3ohT8LoeQL— This Week (@This Week) 1652648621