Trojan Horse on Twitter: Account claiming to belong to AntiFa turns out to be a white nationalist group

Trojan Horse on Twitter: Account claiming to belong to AntiFa turns out to be a white nationalist group

Twitter has suspended the antifa accounts and found that it was linked to Identity Evropa, a white nationalist group

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Tuesday, June 02, 2020, 08:45 PM IST
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A protester holds up his hands in front of a row of police officers during a demonstration against the death of George Floyd at a park near the White House on June 1, 2020 in Washington, DC | AFP

With nationwide protests being organised in the United States of America over the death of George Floyd, much misinformation regarding the nature of the protests has been peddled online.

An account claiming to belong to an Antifa organisation which was peddling a violent rhetoric regarding the protests has been linked to a white nationalist group known as Identity Evropa, said a spokesperson for Twitter.

According to a report in NBC, the spokesperson also added that as the account violated the community guidelines- particularly with regard to spam and fake accounts, the account has hence been suspended.

On Sunday, the account had tweeted "Tonight's the night's Comrades." The tweet also stated that it was the night they would 'move to residential areas' and 'take what is ours'. This tweet has been viewed as promoting and initiating violence and hence, keeping in mind Twitter's manipulation and spam policy, the account has been suspended.

According to the spokesperson, Twitter had previously taken action against accounts linked to Identity Evropa for spreading hate as well. It has been noted that during uncertain times, the number of fake accounts increase, which have very few followers and constantly post fake messages through various accounts. Many accounts are also hacked to spread such messages.

Two hashtags were trending worldwide claimed that there was a blackout in Washington DC or that there was a 'cover-up' to silence the protesters. Both claims have however been proved untrue, as journalists tweeting from the location debunked the information that there was an internet black out.

In order to prove that the internet blackout was false, several accounts posted the same message which claimed that the blackout was misinformation and that they users stay in DC metro area and have experienced no such thing. However, it has been realised that these accounts have been powered by bots or by hacking other accounts.

The spokesperson maintained that such misinformation could have been spread to create chaos and panic during times like these and added that during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic as well, such messages and posts were tweeted, which have since been proved as false.

Donald Trump, who is clearly unhappy with the widescale protests in the US has expressed his disapproval by threatening to deploy the military to quell the protests. The protests in Minneapolis were suppressed with the help of the National Guard. President Trump tweeted on Sunday that the United States will be designating Antifa as a terrorist organisation.

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