Las Vegas shooting victims are being abused by people online who believe the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history was a hoax and social media sites like YouTube are exacerbating the problem, according to a report.
“You are a lying piece of shit and I hope someone truly shoots you in the head,” one Facebook user wrote to Braden Matejka, per the Guardian. Matejka was hit with a bullet that narrowly missed his brain when a lone gunman fired down on the Route 91 Harvest country music festival earlier in October.
A photograph of the 30-year-old Canadian was also turned into a meme with the words, “I’m a lying c—t!” prompting him to delete his social media accounts.
“There are all these families dealing with likely the most horrific thing they’ll ever experience, and they are also met with hate and anger and are being attacked online about being a part of some conspiracy,” brother Taylor Matejka told the Guardian. “It’s madness. I can’t imagine the thought process of these people. Do they know that we are actual people?”
Taylor Matejka said the harassment started after his brother gave an emotional interview to the Associated Press.
Other survivors, such as Mike Cronk and Rob McIntosh, relay similar experiences.
Taylor Matejka, Cronk, and McIntosh all criticize YouTube for making the situation worse by suggesting videos of victims with titles like “How To Spot Crisis Actors & Fakest News Ever.”
“If they’re putting it online and promoting it, they should be accountable for that. They are providing a service, they need to police it,” McIntosh said.
A spokesperson for YouTube told the Guardian that the Google-owned company works “to quickly remove videos violating [its harassment and bullying] policies when they are flagged.”
