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Reps. Krishnamoorthi And Speier Send Inquiry To DLive On Domestic Extremist Content

February 9, 2021

A Number Of Users Live Streamed The Capitol Insurrection On DLive And Received Crypto Currency Payments Ahead Of Time

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08) and Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA-14) sent an inquiry to both DLive and BitTorrent Inc. regarding the use of their online streaming platform to recruit and finance domestic extremism and white supremacy. Ahead of the insurrection at the United States Capitol building on January 6th, 2021, the DLive platform was utilized to raise funds through their cryptocurrency platform, and during the insurrection many live streamed the event to the platform's communities. DLive CEO Charles Wayn implemented internal governance policies on January 17th, 2021 to address the platform activities during the Capitol insurrection; however, the undersigned of today's inquiry believe it to be too little, too late.

"As members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, our concern is that online platforms such as DLive are being used to promulgate extremist views that incite offline conflict and violence," wrote the Members of Congress. "We have worked with other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to reform their governance practices around extremist content and that work is still ongoing. But it is clear that DLive is well behind its peers in platform governance and needs to take serious reformative actions."

Both members of Congress are requesting that DLive provide metrics on the effectiveness of internal corporate governance measures put in place after the Capitol insurrection, as well as any information they have about possible foreign payments through the DLive exchange ahead of the event. They are also requesting any information on how DLive intends to proactively protect children and adolescents using the platform.

The letter to DLive and BitTorrent Inc. can be viewed here.