Anonymous vs Ku Klux Klan: On Social Media, Spreading Hate Just Got Harder Jeff Stone - International Business Times
go to original November 18, 2014

Anonymous vs Ku Klux Klan #OpKKK (ANONYMOUS)

Spreading hate speech just isn’t as easy as it used to be. A Missouri chapter of the Ku Klux Klan found out when, after threatening Ferguson protesters with violence, its website was knocked offline. For that the Klan can thank the Anonymous hacking collective, which also took control of the KKK’s social media presence and claimed to leak personal information about members of the white supremacist group.

The hack, which began late Sunday and ran into Monday, comes as the latest sign of heightened tension in Ferguson, Missouri, where a grand jury is expected to announce this week whether Officer Darren Wilson will be indicted for fatally shooting Mike Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old African-American.

Yet the KKK's attempt to publicly involve itself in the case highlights how social media - so adept at spreading some messages - is a double-edged sword for hate groups. While the Internet can give anyone - including ISIS and the KKK - a megaphone, it can also mark them as targets. And as they broadcast information the rest of the world finds abhorrent, they're finding more voice results in less influence.

“The Internet gives these groups more of a voice. There’s no question about that,” said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center and the editor of the award-winning Intelligence Report journal. “Whether it actually gives them more influence is highly debatable. The vast majority of people, as they learn about these groups, are turned off by them.”

...Increased connectivity has failed to deliver for Klansmen, who have traditionally believed that, if it wasn’t for liberal newspaper editors who stifled the KKK’s message, the wider population would flock to the white supremacy cause.

Read the rest at International Business Times

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