Daily Stormer Troll Army Threatens CNN Staffers Over Reddit User Behind Trump/CNN GIF
Andrew Auernheimer, the notorious hacker and Internet troll known as 鈥榃eev,鈥� rallied the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer鈥檚 troll army for its latest campaign this morning,聽claiming that CNN was blackmailing a 鈥渢een shitposter.鈥�
The events leading to this online call to arms began Sunday morning, when聽 depicting a scene from Wrestlemania XXIII in which Trump body slams and pummels WWE promoter Vince McMahon. In the gif, the CNN logo is superimposed over McMahon鈥檚 face.
Auernheimer heralded the tweet as 鈥渆asily the greatest tweet in the history of Twitter.鈥�
After scouring HanAssholeSolo's聽Reddit account, which contained scores of racist and xenophobic postings, .
Fearing public embarrassment and his safety, HanAssholeSolo published a lengthy apology on the Reddit group r/theDonald, asking that CNN not publish his identity. (The apology has since been removed.)
CNN obliged, on the condition that HanAssholeSolo聽remove his offending posts and cease his trolling, but that didn鈥檛 stop the self-proclaimed 鈥渞eal media鈥� at the Daily Stormer from issuing an ultimatum to every staffer at CNN.
鈥淛ust like CNN tracked down this child and used media exposure as a bludgeon against him for posting (truthful and funny) things that they don鈥檛 like, we are going to begin tracking down their families as a bludgeon against them for publishing (seditiously fraudulent) things that we don鈥檛 like,鈥� wrote Auernheimer. 鈥淐NN, this is your one singular chance to walk back this behavior of public blackmail. You have one week to fix this.鈥�
Auernheimer鈥檚 list of demands includes the public firing of the KFile team, a denouncement of their alleged threats, a $50,000 college scholarship for HanAssholeSolo, and a public assurance that 鈥渉e and his family will never be harmed by your organization.鈥�
The only problem:聽HanAssholeSolo is an adult,聽according to CNN.聽
鈥淲e are going to track down your parents. We are going to track down your siblings. We are going to track down your spouses. We are going to track down your children. Because hey, that鈥檚 what you guys get to do, right? We鈥檙e going to see how you like it when our reporters are hunting down your children,鈥� continued Auernheimer.
Auernheimer instructed CNN employees that do not want to be doxed to quit within the week and denounce the organization鈥檚 alleged blackmail.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 make these rules 鈥� you did 鈥� and now we鈥檙e going to force you to play by them. Hope you enjoy what is coming, you filthy rat k--- bastards. Kill yourselves, k--- news fakers. You deserve every single bit of what you are about to get,鈥� concluded Auernheimer.
Within hours, personal information for multiple CNN staffers and their family members -- alongside images and gifs of individuals with CNN superimposed over their faces聽being shot in the head -- appeared in the comments of the posting.
The incident is a rare moment of unity for the far-right with members of r/theDonald, 4chan, the Daily Stormer, and the alt-lite banding together to attack CNN.
The 4chan message board /pol/, which is聽dedicated to聽politically incorrect discussion,聽dubbed the campaign 鈥淥peration:Autism Storm鈥� and posted a four part plan of attack that includes banding together with other far right sites, going after CNN鈥檚 advertisers, discrediting everyone at CNN, and forming a legal strategy for HanAssholeSolo should he later be doxed.
At least nine separate hashtags trended across far-right accounts Tuesday evening 鈥� including #cnnblackmail, #cnndoxing, and #fraudnewscnn 鈥� as the controversy erupted.
鈥淭o people who troll on the Internet for fun,鈥� wrote HanAssholeSolo. 鈥淐onsider your words and actions conveyed in your message and who it might upset or anger. Put yourself in their shoes before you post it. If you have a problem with trolling it is an addiction just like any other addiction someone can have to something and don鈥檛 be embarrassed to ask for help.鈥�
The Daily Stormer鈥檚 veteran troll army hasn鈥檛 heeded his advice.
