Two US lawmakers asked Tron founder and CEO Justin Sun and DLive CEO Charles Wayn to explain how they intend to prevent the transmission of extremist content on the crypto streaming platform.
The question comes following events in Washington DC last month, where a group of far-right protesters attacked the Capitol in a violent action that left several victims behind, posting a live stream of the protest on DLive.
The open letter to Justin Sun and DLive CEO Charles Wayn
In an open letter, first published on Tuesday by The Verge, representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (Illinois) and Jackie Speier (California) asked Sun and Wayn to detail how DLive is addressing and moderating extremist discussions focused on issues. such as the white supremacy that have manifested on the platform, how it protects younger users from extremist content, and whether the company has a way to identify the people who fund extremist content.
DLive is a subsidiary of BitTorrent, which was acquired by the Tron Foundation in 2018. Users can stream video and get paid by their viewers in cryptocurrency, although Wayn announced after the Washington Uprising that only gaming content they would have been authorized to receive payments.
During last month's uprising on Capitol Hill, several far-right extremists streamed images of the protest on DLive; some of them were subsequently arrested.
“Many of these people earned thousands of dollars in DLive's digital currency that day and many more received large donations through the platform prior to the event. An individual received $ 2.800 in a live stream on January 5, 2021, in which he encouraged his viewers to kill elected officials, ”the letter reads.
What role did cryptocurrencies play in the uprising on Capitol Hill?
Lawmakers are part of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, which appears to be just one of the Congressional committees that are examining how the insurgency unfolded and whether cryptocurrencies played a role in funding it.
The House's Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security will hold a hearing later this month on domestic terrorist financing in the wake of the January 6 incident, which appears to include discussion of a $ 500.000 bitcoin transaction.quotation BTC) carried out by a French blogger to right-wing people who may have been to the Capitol. "Did DLive or BitTorrent identify overseas-based blockchain donations to people who were subsequently removed from the platform following the January 6 Capitol riots?" asks the letter.
