Video streaming platform DLive, owned by blockchain platform Tron, was reportedly used by far-right extremists to live stream the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit legal organization, said on its Hatewatch blog Thursday that “white supremacists and neo-fascists” have taken to DLive as a streaming alternative to YouTube due to its lack of moderation.
SPLC said it identified five DLive accounts live streaming the protests: “Baked Alaska,” “Gloomtube,” “Murder the Media,” “Loulz” and “Woozuh.” Baked Alaska managed to breach the Capitol building, the post says.
The non-profit estimates that since DLive was founded it has allowed hundreds of thousands of dollars to be sent to such extremists through donations of cryptocurrency via a facility built into the site.
The platform also reaps rewards from the extremists’ funding. DLive takes 25% from every donation, with 20% going to the platform itself and 5% is redistributed to other DLive users via its staking system, said SPLC.
On Wednesday, there was an unprecedented breach of the U.S. Capitol building as pro-Trump rioters stormed the building. The event has left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer, and many wounded.
DLive said on Twitter Thursday that it “does not condone illegal activities or violence,” but did not say if it would address the issue.
In December 2019, Tron founder Justin Sun announced his firm had struck an acquisition deal with DLive, moving the platform to the Tron Blockchain and integrating it with BitTorrent’s BLive streaming service.
CoinDesk reached out to Sun, who said there is a plan to “enforce more rigorous scrutiny” of DLive accounts. More detail was not immediately forthcoming.
