Under the direction of Governor Kathy Hochul, New York law enforcement plans on “reaching out” to people reported for posting hate speech online, along with surveilling social media platforms and collecting data.
In her announcement, Hochul stated, “We are very focused on the data we are collecting from surveillance efforts, what’s being said on social media platforms, and we have launched an effort to be able to counter some of the negativity and reach out to people when we see hate speech being spoken about on online platforms.” She continued, “Our social media analysis unit has ramped up its monitoring of sites to catch incitement to violence, direct threats to others,” claiming the surveillance and contacting of persons posting on social media is to ensure New Yorkers “be safe, but they also feel safe.”
In response to the reported increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents, the state of New York created a hotline for reporting social-media posts. “We have decided that what we’ve done in activating our hotline, to report hate and bias incidences of all kinds, is now being utilized, but there are more platforms and more places we can get that number out to, because people are being subjected to horrible assaults and vile language, and they go back home not sure what to do with that knowledge that they have been violated. I want everyone to know this phone number,” Hochul said.
Hochul instructed New York law enforcement to investigate every single social-media post that is reported, stating, “I want to make sure every single complaint is run down and investigated, and if they’ve crossed the line from hate speech into a hate crime, that there will be prosecutions.”
