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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDoxxing, assault, death threats: the new dangers facing US journalists covering extremism
From The GuardianThu 14 Jun 2018 15.41 BST
...
Recently, a significant part of the HuffPost newsroom had their private details released by far-right trolls.This came in the wake of a story by the HuffPost beat reporter Luke OBrien about a hyperactive Twitter account, @AmyMek, which offers its 231,000 followers a steady diet of anti-Islamic invective and conspiracy theories. The piece says that @AmyMek had been retweeted and promoted by a range of rightwing luminaries, including Trump.
OBriens story detailed @AmyMeks promotion of Islamophobic memes and conspiracy theories. It also exposed the identity of the person behind the account, Amy Mekelburg. In seeking to confirm his story, OBrien contacted the WWE, the then employer of Mekelburgs husband, Salvatore Siino. WWE fired Siino before OBriens story was published.
Before OBriens story dropped, Mekelburg asked followers to contact HuffPost, which she accused of viciously harassing her and endangering me and my family. The first tweet in her thread pre-empting the HuffPost story was retweeted 16,000 times.
Various rightwingers online felt that OBrien had doxxed Mekelburg by revealing her as @amymeks author. What followed was a concerted harassment campaign against OBrien and his colleagues, where he and other journalists were actually doxxed, with their addresses and phone numbers published for the use of far-right trolls.
OBriens and others details were disseminated on 4chan, Twitter and a neo-Nazi podcast. HuffPost journalists received threats, including death threats, on social media. OBriens Twitter account was itself reported for abusive behavior, and he was briefly suspended.
Some tweets were explicit one of hundreds sent to OBrien read: You take my job, Ill take your life. Other users tweeted marginally more oblique messages, like images of the Islamic States execution of US journalist James Foley.
Several HuffPo reporters also got threats over the phone. A voice message instructed a reporter to kill yourself before the callers could find them. Another threatened to send people to a reporters house so they could be gang raped or gang murdered.
....
Recently, a significant part of the HuffPost newsroom had their private details released by far-right trolls.This came in the wake of a story by the HuffPost beat reporter Luke OBrien about a hyperactive Twitter account, @AmyMek, which offers its 231,000 followers a steady diet of anti-Islamic invective and conspiracy theories. The piece says that @AmyMek had been retweeted and promoted by a range of rightwing luminaries, including Trump.
OBriens story detailed @AmyMeks promotion of Islamophobic memes and conspiracy theories. It also exposed the identity of the person behind the account, Amy Mekelburg. In seeking to confirm his story, OBrien contacted the WWE, the then employer of Mekelburgs husband, Salvatore Siino. WWE fired Siino before OBriens story was published.
Before OBriens story dropped, Mekelburg asked followers to contact HuffPost, which she accused of viciously harassing her and endangering me and my family. The first tweet in her thread pre-empting the HuffPost story was retweeted 16,000 times.
Various rightwingers online felt that OBrien had doxxed Mekelburg by revealing her as @amymeks author. What followed was a concerted harassment campaign against OBrien and his colleagues, where he and other journalists were actually doxxed, with their addresses and phone numbers published for the use of far-right trolls.
OBriens and others details were disseminated on 4chan, Twitter and a neo-Nazi podcast. HuffPost journalists received threats, including death threats, on social media. OBriens Twitter account was itself reported for abusive behavior, and he was briefly suspended.
Some tweets were explicit one of hundreds sent to OBrien read: You take my job, Ill take your life. Other users tweeted marginally more oblique messages, like images of the Islamic States execution of US journalist James Foley.
Several HuffPo reporters also got threats over the phone. A voice message instructed a reporter to kill yourself before the callers could find them. Another threatened to send people to a reporters house so they could be gang raped or gang murdered.
....
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/14/doxxing-assault-death-threats-the-new-dangers-facing-us-journalists-covering-extremism
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Doxxing, assault, death threats: the new dangers facing US journalists covering extremism (Original Post)
inanna
Jun 2018
OP
hlthe2b
(102,357 posts)1. I've been following this story... Alarming and underscores how badly we need
technologically competent politicos to draft new law in this area (cyberabuse/ cybercrime).
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)2. And we have a president that loves this kind of shit!!!!! n/t