Thread by @benimmo

#Trolltracker thread: One of the many ugly things about troll attacks is the way they're coordinated across platforms.

Another is the collateral damage they cause.

medium.com/dfrlab/trolltr…

Luke O'Brien of Huffington Post exposed the user behind anti-Islam Twitter account AmyMek.

The trolls went for him, big time.

On Twitter, they shared what they thought were his address, phone number, girlfriend's name...

Where did they find it? On 4chan. This user, called "Hitler himself."

The link leads to a Ghostbin page, with those details.

Twitter troll, sharing a 4chan find.

... except that the 4chan find was wrong.

But the address details were already out there.

"Needs to delete." But didn't.

On Gab, meanwhile, users were calling for all kinds of stuff.

Including a "harassment campaign" against journalists.

That's kind of ironic, because fans of AmyMek began accusing O'Brien of targeted harassment.

And reporting him to Twitter Support.

Trying to get him shut down?

This is traffic mentioning Luke O'Brien's handle and Twitter Support in early June.

Note the spike.

The most influential account on this was Laura Loomer.

O'Brien told his critics to "get stuffed." Loomer interpreted that as promoting rape, and reported him.

(British readers: Yes. Really.)

That time, Twitter Support didn't respond.

But then O'Brien tweeted to a critic to "DDT yourself."

It's a wrestling move, but the most common reference is to pesticide.

Result? Reported for "encouraging suicide"...

... and temporarily suspended. For promoting self-harm.

What's interesting is how many other users reacted by confirming that they reported him, too.

Targeted reporting, to take a reporter offline?

Not all the troll attacks were that clever.

Some people on Gab appeared not to realise that Luke O'Brien's real name is, in fact, Luke O'Brien.

Others went for the wrong Luke O'Brien, and discovered they'd bitten off more than they could chew.

But there's a sinister side to this. The number of "Luke O'Brien" photos, addresses, relatives, and even floor plans that got shared on 4chan and Gab.

All the wrong ones.

Collateral damage. It's a real danger.

Trolling. It's real, it's nasty, it's targeted, and it moves from platform to platform.

Main goal? Intimidation. Silence the researchers, the journalists and the witnesses.

Don't let it happen. / Thread ends.