In questo articolo del New Yorker si fa una disamina dei siti e comunità online che sembrano fornire supporto e persino aiuto a quelle persone che stanno pianificando una strage.

As others have pointed out in recent days, “lone wolf” is something of a misnomer for right-wing terrorists whose ideas and methods are being explicitly nurtured through online communities. Such extremists don’t become radicalized solely by perusing the automated algorithmic feeds that the rest of us see on Facebook or YouTube. They seek out forums for those who have similar views, follow charismatic voices, and egg one another on. A mass shooter who finds inspiration in Christchurch or encouragement in chat rooms isn’t a solo operator or a spontaneous “copycat” so much as a digital comrade-in-arms.

Nell’articolo si prende a esempio la strage di Buffalo, durante la quale un diciottenne, Payton Gendron, ha aperto il fuoco in un negozio di alimentari in un quartiere abitato soprattutto da afroamericani, uccidendone 10. Gendron frequentava una comunità di appassionati d’armi ospitata su un canale Discord, dove aveva annunciato le sue intenzioni.

Discord told me, through a spokesperson, that Gendron was posting his messages in an “invite-only server” that he used as a “personal diary chat log.” According to the spokesperson, no one else saw the contents of the server until roughly thirty minutes before the shooting, when “a small group of people” were invited to join. [..] But even when he was purportedly posting privately, he seemed aware of his own potential to influence others. [..] In some ways, the forces that encourage mass shooters are bleakly similar to those that fuel the careers of any influencers, drawing passive content consumers into the orbit of particularly vocal posters.