On Friday, Sen. Doug Jones, D-AL, introduced the Stop HATE Act, which aims to prevent displays of extremism online from turning into real-life hate crimes.

The legislation would require the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Justice to investigate the ways in which current forms of telecommunications are being used to spread hate speech and instigate acts of violence.

Further, it would require those departments to recommend ways that the government, or citizens, can combat these threats within the parameters of the First Amendment.

A version of this report was released in 1993, but no further action has been taken since then.

For Jones, instances of hate crimes are a personal matter – as an attorney, Jones successfully prosecuted two former members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) involved in the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, which resulted in the death of four young girls.

“We absolutely need to address the proliferation of hate-based violence in our country and around the world, and this bill is a necessary step forward,” Jones said. “The growth of social media has outpaced our understanding of how these technologies can be used to spread hate. We need to examine how these new forms of communication are used to inspire hate crimes and violence so that we can take the steps necessary to prevent this type of terrorism.”

According to a report released by the Anti-Defamation League, more than 2.6 million Tweets were shared during the 2016 presidential election cycle – Aug. 1, 2015 through July 31, 2016 – which contained “language frequently found in anti-Semitic speech.”

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, more than 1,750 “unique photos and memes” were distributed containing anti-Muslim sentiments just after the 2016 election.

Recently, the gunman responsible for killing nearly 50 Muslims during morning prayers in Christchurch, New Zealand livestreamed his act on Facebook.

The video was shared some 300,000 times before being removed from the internet, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).