Do we need a law?

I am struck by the parallels wrt Trump and the recent Kai Cenat craziness. Kai is apparently going to face charges for instigating the riot in NYC, where he said he was giving away PlayStations. Trump, of course, told his minions to come to DC, “It’ll be wild”.

The similarities are apparent. I’ll call Trump an influencer for now, tho he is clearly more than just that. But how do we hold influencers accountable if their actions trigger violence? I’m not sure we have any laws about that, since the whole social media thing is so new. Using existing law makes it weird.

Pretty sure everyone would agree that both times, the influencer was involved. (Gotta be careful before using the word responsible). I’ve heard defenses, in both situations, stating that the influencer did not have control over the minions behavior. But that doesn’t quite work for me since they certainly had control enough over them to get the crowd to show up. Better to say they lost control at some point, not that they had none.

In both situations, bad shit happened. Clear injuries and damage. But where is the justice in arresting some of the minions, but letting the influencer walk? It’s the influencer that is making money on the actions. The whole thing is the result of their behavior. Maybe not intentional, but wrong has been done none the less. (If you lose control of your dog and the dog mauls a child, you’re going to be in legal and civil jeopardy).

IANAL, but I think we need some new laws regarding culpability of influencers who cause harm via their crowds. The current laws get entangled because of Free Speech. All very fine, but social media puts power in people’s hands that didn’t exist before. Technology presents us with a conundrum in the existing legal framework.

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The story I read said both had been charged, but 30 of the 65 “minions” were juveniles and would therefore not suffer any long-term consequences.

Kai Cenat was arrested and charged.

Trump has not been charged for the violence on 1/6.

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And don’t get drawn in by the R talking point (and picked up by most of the press) that Trump’s indictments are a free speech issue. Watch the Legal Eagle video posted in the Trump Arrest Watch thread for more info.

My consternation comes from the fact that my Supreme Court likes originalism. Trying to divine the founders attitudes towards social media is wacky. We will need laws passed if we are to rationally deal with this.

And charged is not convicted. Trump and Kai are innocent at this point. These two episodes are not going to be the end of this sort of thing.

Except when it doesn’t fit with what they want to do.