Police responded to a possible threat at Twitch’s San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday morning. As Business Insider reported this morning, multiple employees said the threat was a possible shooter.
“We were made aware of a threat against our San Francisco HQ on Tuesday, and have been working directly with law enforcement as they investigate,” Twitch said in a statement. “The safety and security of our employees is our top priority, and we are focused on ensuring this is resolved quickly and safely.” Employees were given the option to work from home.
According to the San Francisco Police Department, the threat was originally made yesterday via social media — and then the same threat was made this morning, followed by a post claiming the threat was real. “So it was just a follow up,” says SFPD public information Officer Adam Lobsinger. SFPD went to the headquarters this morning at 8:33AM PT and conducted a preliminary investigation. “As of this moment we do not have an active threat,” Lobsinger says. “And it is being investigated,” he continues, noting that the department’s special investigations division has been notified.
Twitch, a live-streaming platform, is only the latest tech company to be targeted by violent people, some of whom claim to be unfairly persecuted by changes in company policies. In 2018, a disgruntled YouTuber took a gun to the company’s San Bruno headquarters and injured three people before fatally shooting herself. In the months before the attack, she had posted videos criticizing the platform for allegedly discriminating against her content.
Violence enabled by technology platforms has been making headlines lately: the mass shooting in El Paso a few days ago was reportedly publicized on 8chan — a hate-filled online message board — just before the shooter killed 22 people. Steps have since been taken by website hosting and technology providers to make it more difficult for 8chan to operate.
Author:
Source: Theverge
Tags:
