In the wake of Sunday night's horrific shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, the leaders of multiple tech companies have begun speaking out on Twitter and Facebook.
It isn't unusual for tech executives to respond to current events: Their voices were unified after the violence in Charlottesville, and many have been active in offering aid to Puerto Rico. So far, responses from leaders at Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, and Uber have been a mix of condolences and calls for action.
Facebook has activated Safety Check in the area, where there have been more than 2,000 posts from people offering help — from providing shelter and food to blood donations and transportation, as well as more than 35 posts from people requesting help. You can go here to offer or find help.
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My heart & thoughts are with all the people, families & responders in Las Vegas impacted by this horrific & senseless violence.
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) October 2, 2017
Our hearts are with the victims in Las Vegas, their families and loved ones who are grieving this morning.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 2, 2017
Mark Zuckerberg's response pointed to the platform's Safety Check page, but also referenced a need for stricter gun control.
The strongest reactions to the shooting thus far has come from Uber's Chief Brand Officer Bozoma Saint John, who called the shooting an act of terrorism and, like Zuckerberg, made a plea for gun control reform.
This is TERRORISM. We need to call it what it is so we can address it for what it is. #guncontrolnow https://t.co/gZjbaMY3cY
— Bozoma Saint John (@badassboz) October 2, 2017
Google's response to the tragedy referenced a mistake in its search algorithm, which inaccurately placed a 4chan post misidentifying the shooter at the top of its search results. A Google spokesperson offered the following statement:
“Unfortunately, early this morning we were briefly surfacing an inaccurate 4chan website in our Search results for a small number of queries. Within hours, the 4chan story was algorithmically replaced by relevant results. This should not have appeared for any queries, and we’ll continue to make algorithmic improvements to prevent this from happening in the future.”
The shooting is likely to raise anew conversations that have called on the tech industry to take a more active approach in preventing gun violence. As more tech leaders offer their condolences, it will be interesting to see what kind of political action will follow.
We will continue to update this article with responses from the tech community.