By Georgia Wells, Ian Talley and Jeff Horwitz
In the weeks since the Nov. 8 election, an online provocateur
and white nationalist named Tim Gionet posted hours of live-stream
videos to social media in which he repeatedly warned of rioting or
worse if the results weren't overturned. "Trump or war!" he said in
a video posted on Tuesday.
The next day, Mr. Gionet live-streamed from inside Speaker of
the House Nancy Pelosi's office as a mob ransacked the U.S.
Capitol.
Mr. Gionet was among a collection of right-wing and extremist
personalities who loudly rallied their online followings to contest
the election results, through violence if necessary, according to
researchers and analysts who study extremism and disinformation, as
well as posts reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Many of them
used the reach of mainstream social-media platforms such as
Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. but increasingly also turned to
niche sites with either fewer rules around the type of content that
can be posted and/or where the communications can be encrypted, and
thus inaccessible to law enforcement.
Mr. Gionet, who was previously banned from YouTube and Twitter
for abusive behavior, posted his videos to Facebook Inc.'s
Instagram service and the streaming platform DLive.
His account had remained active on Facebook, where he mostly
refrained from expressing extreme political views, illustrating the
patchwork enforcement that has been constructed as platforms reach
different and often conflicting decisions about what is acceptable.
Late Thursday, Facebook removed Mr. Gionet's profiles from Facebook
and Instagram.
Mr. Gionet, who goes by the nickname "Baked Alaska" online,
didn't respond to requests for comment.
Unlike other rallies in the past that turned violent, the
Capitol riot doesn't appear to have been orchestrated by a central
figure or organization, according to researchers and analysts.
Instead, they say, these online rabble-rousers fomented anger over
the election results for weeks through various channels and
platforms.
"It was a bit of a mess," said Megan Squire, a professor of
computer science at Elon University who focuses on online
extremism. "There were so many groups, it was broken out across
numerous platforms, and fewer people were claiming to be in
charge."
Yet it was hardly unpredictable.
The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist groups,
sent more than two dozen alerts between Dec. 23 and Jan. 7 noting
the rising risk of violence related to the coming gathering.
Robert Evans, who specializes in far-right extremism for the
research group Bellingcat, predicted an attempt on the Capitol in a
post Monday on Bellingcat's website.
"It was planned by a distributed network of extremists for
months, and in some ways for years," said Mr. Evans, who has
advised federal law enforcement on the growing extremist movement
in the U.S.
Mr. Evans, pointing to multiple social media and chat room
sites, said symbols used by rioters captured in videos and photos
of Wednesday's attack identified the ideology of conspiracy
theories promoted by far-right extremist groups, especially QAnon,
a loosely organized community that believes a cabal of
Satan-worshipping pedophiles is trying to undermine Mr. Trump. A
noose in one protester's hand is likely to represent the
white-supremacist slogan "The Day of the Rope," he said.
Federal authorities said Thursday they plan to charge dozens of
people for their roles in the riots, in part by combing through
social-media activity in search of clues.
Other platforms where Wednesday's rally was widely promoted
include Discord, Parler and Gab, each of which puts fewer
restrictions on posts than Facebook and Twitter, which forbid
incitements to violence and in recent months have taken steps to
limit false claims about the election.
A spokeswoman for Discord said the app has strict rules against
hate and violence of any kind, including the use of Discord to
support or organize around violent extremism.
In early July, Facebook booted groups advocating for civil war,
and in August and early September, Facebook targeted militia
groups, conspiracy groups such as QAnon, and the far-right
extremist group Proud Boys.
Facebook in the past had banned some members of these groups,
but this time took a more aggressive approach. "Facebook disrupted
their networks, " Dr. Squire said.
Facebook, though, remained a key hub for awareness of the coming
rally and discussion of possible actions to contest the election
result.
While Facebook after the election banned the more than
300,000-member "Stop the Steal" group, it allowed the organization
behind it--"Women for America First"--to continue promoting events
disputing the legitimacy of the election and calling for efforts to
overturn it.
That group's rally was where Mr. Trump on Wednesday told
attendees they should "walk down to the Capitol" and warned "you
will never take back our country with weakness." Protesters rushed
the Capitol shortly thereafter.
In the day before the mob attacked the Capitol, many public and
private pro-Trump groups across Facebook were warning of a looming
"civil war," according to an analysis by Avaaz, a left-leaning
human-rights group.
One video circulating on Facebook, posted on Jan. 3 and viewed
almost 45,000 times, explained to viewers how they could go and buy
pepper spray, carry a knife or pistol and briefed watchers on the
laws around conceal and carry, said Fadi Quran, campaign director
at Avaaz. Facebook removed the video after Avaaz alerted them to
it.
Ahead of the rally, the administrators of a private Facebook
group called the 2020 Civil War--which has grown to 1,400 members
after organizers launched it in September to discuss fighting in
and surviving coming unrest --advised members who traveled to
Washington, D.C., on where to meet up with like-minded Trump
supporters and suggested that they bring concealed weapons with
them.
"They just do not have the moderation tools to deal with this
stuff at scale and when it matters," said Claire Wardle, co-founder
and U.S. director of First Draft News. "A lot of this stuff has
been tolerated for years and years--it's not going to stop
today."
After the election, these groups coalesced around the hashtag
and movement "Stop the Steal," which Mr. Trump promoted along with
his false claims that the election had been rigged. They began
hosting events in the capitals of the states whose election results
they hoped to contest, Dr. Squire said. These in-person events
included appearances from white nationalist Nick Fuentes and Mr.
Gionet, who appeared together at an event in Arizona in November,
and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who joined Mr. Fuentes at a
similar event in Georgia. They continued pushing "Stop the Steal"
ideas, until they converged in Washington on Wednesday with the
other rioters.
"I think they understood that their job was to overwhelm the
Capitol and stop the vote," Dr. Squire said. "They didn't need
central planning."
The groups are now gearing up for their next event: Jan. 17, the
first anniversary of the pro-gun rally in Richmond, Va., and a few
days before the inauguration. Dr. Squire said she has found fliers
promoting this event on all the major platforms.
Deepa Seetharaman
and Erin Ailworth contributed to this article.
Write to Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com, Ian Talley at
ian.talley@wsj.com and Jeff Horwitz at Jeff.Horwitz@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 07, 2021 22:04 ET (03:04 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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