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Philippines school attack prompts probe into online “memetic violence”

Authorities said the attacker live-streamed the incident via a body-worn camera and investigators are examining whether he was influenced by digital media.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Trade & Tariffs

A deadly school attack in Zamboanga City, southern Philippines, is drawing scrutiny as local officials and analysts examine whether online content helped shape a broader pattern of youth violence, according to the South China Morning Post.

Police said the incident occurred Tuesday morning at the junior high campus of the privately run Ateneo de Zamboanga University, where a student brought weapons onto campus, opened fire inside a classroom, and killed a fellow student.

Investigators are still reviewing the sequence of events and the attacker’s motive. Zamboanga Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso, in a radio interview, said the student live-streamed parts of the attack through a body-worn camera and that the gunman shot at a teacher and a Grade 10 student before taking his own life.

The report also said the shooter’s father, a customs police officer, was relieved of his duties, as investigators look into reports that the firearms used belonged to him. Analysts cited by SCMP described the case as underscoring the risk of “memetic violence,” where past atrocities are glorified online and turned into scripts for imitation.

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