Ominous Tweet Tied to White Nationalists, Not Antifa

Twitter suspends account that posted message hinting of more violence to come
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 2, 2020 11:59 AM CDT
Ominous Tweet Tied to White Nationalists, Not Antifa
Demonstrators start a fire as they protest the death of George Floyd on Sunday near the White House in Washington.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

As if tensions weren't high enough with the George Floyd protests taking place across America, an ominous message circulated Sunday night that seemed to hint at more violence to come—and it appeared to be linked to antifa. "Tonight's the night, Comrades," the @ANTIFA_US account said in the tweet. "Tonight we say 'F--- The City' and we move into the residential areas ... and we take what's ours." That account has since been suspended by Twitter, and NBC News reports that it was fake. It wasn't tied to anyone involved with the antifa movement, but to Identity Evropa, a white nationalist group that Twitter has had to contend with before regarding fraudulent accounts, per a Twitter spokesperson. "This account violated our platform manipulation and spam policy, specifically the creation of fake accounts," a Twitter rep tells Axios.

"We took action after the account sent a Tweet inciting violence and broke the Twitter rules," the rep adds. NBC notes there was other misinformation that started circulating Sunday night revolving around a supposed "cover-up" or "blackout" of DC protests, but that was also a hoax. Twitter suspended hundreds of "spammy" accounts that were boosting the topic, and it nixed the trend from its trending topics section. "We're taking action proactively on any coordinated attempts to disrupt the public conversation around this issue," the Twitter rep said. A researcher who analyzes hacking and trolling operations says he isn't surprised by these incidents. "Any large 'online' event is going to have these types of things happen," he notes. "Every bad actor that sees the opportunity to create some panic is going to leverage the situation to do so. It's nothing new." (More Twitter stories.)

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