NAACP targets social media, Fox News in response to Buffalo shooting

The NAACP on Thursday released a response plan to combat white supremacy and hate crimes in wake of the Buffalo supermarket shooting, targeting social media outlets and Fox News. 

The release of the plan comes a day before Derrick Johnson, the NAACP’s CEO, will meet with Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss the problem of white supremacy.

“We’re focused on preventing the next attack. We need to act. Democracy and white supremacy cannot coexist, and will never coexist. It’s one or the other. We’re fighting for democracy,” Johnson said in a release.

The group is calling for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to aggressively engage social media platforms on the spread of misinformation where hate groups target young people, saying that communities of color provide those social media platforms the revenue they need and those platforms should be required to prove they are acting responsibly. 

It also heaped scorn on Fox News, which it called “the worst of American broadcasting,” saying the network uses its news division to “sow bigotry and racism, create dissension, spread misinformation, and promote conspiracy theories that continually encourage violence.”

It specifically cited the “Tucker Carlson Tonight” program, which has come under criticism in the wake of 10 people being killed at a Buffalo supermarket for amplifying the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory that white people in the United States are being intentionally replaced by members of the minority group.

The suspected shooter in Buffalo, 18-year-old Peyton Gendron, is accused of targeting Black customers and the replacement conspiracy theory is seen as a motivation for the killings.

Carlson distanced himself from the incident during an episode of his show on Monday, referring to Gendron as a “mental patient”.

The NAACP said that advertisers, corporations, and sporting organizations such as the NFL should stop subsidizing the network, an argument it has previously made with the NFL.

“Sporting organizations, such as the National Football League (NFL), should be required to only contract with news and media outlets that do not actively spread hate,” the NAACP said. “The NFL must stop subsidizing Fox News.” 

The Hill has reached out to Fox News for comment

The NAACP also called for former President Trump, along with hate groups that spread hatred and violence, to be banned from all social media platforms. 

“In our country, social media giants, mainstream media outlets, and traditional corporations should not be allowed to knowingly originate or spread hate and white nationalism messages,” the NAACP said. “Any type of corporation that funds or profits from hate – especially white supremacy – should be held accountable for the serious role they play in the spike of hate crimes we are witnessing in communities across the country.”