The DLive video streaming platform, owned by the blockchain platform Tron, was reportedly used by far-right extremists to stream the riot on the US Capitol last week.
What happened on DLive
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit legal organization, said on its Hatewatch site Thursday that "white supremacists and neo-fascists" chose DLive as an alternative to YouTube for streaming due to lack of moderation.
SPLC said it had identified five DLive accounts that broadcast the protests live: "Baked Alaska", "Gloomtube", "Murder the Media", "Loulz" and "Woozuh". Baked Alaska members managed to breach the Capitol building, the post says.
The nonprofit organization estimates that DLive has allowed hundreds of thousands of dollars to be sent to these extremists over time through cryptocurrency donations through an integrated facility on the site.
The platform also collects rewards from extremist funding. DLive takes 25% from each donation, with 20% going to the platform itself and 5% being redistributed to other DLive users via its system of staking, said SPLC.
How the platform reacted after the attack on the United States Capitol
On January 6, an unprecedented attack on the United States Capitol building took place organized by extremist fringes of rioters who supported outgoing President Donald Trump. The riot resulted in the deaths of five people, including a Capitol police officer, and many wounded.
In December 2019, Tron founder Justin Sun announced that his company had entered into an acquisition agreement with DLive, moving the platform to Tron's Blockchain and integrating it with BitTorrent's BLive streaming service.
On Friday, DLive said in a post: "While we strongly support the growth of our content creators, we also have zero tolerance for all forms of violence and illegal activities."
As of Thursday, the platform said it suspended three accounts, took five channels offline, banned two accounts from live streaming, and permanently removed over 100 past broadcasts. DLive is also taking action against streamers who were involved in the riots.
“The DLive team is actively taking action against streamers who appear to be part of or participating in the Washington, DC Incident on January 6, including but not limited to account suspension, removal of past broadcasts, freezing of their earnings and the possibility to withdraw. The donation and paid subscriptions will be refunded to the accounts from which they originated ”. DLive also said it is now working to add new reporting features to help stop channels that violate the guidelines.
