A neo-Nazi group that considers themselves an “extremist alternative to the 12-step program” hacked the account of one of the world’s most popular porn stars and used it to spread violent racism, try to recruit from her millions of followers, and demand the release of a member who plotted to shoot up a Walmart.
In early April, the 2.3 million people who follow Riley Reid on Twitter were greeted with an image of a syringe on a dark flag and violently racist posts instead of the adult images they may have been expecting. The account had been fully taken over by a neo-Nazi representing Injekt Division, a small and bizarre neo-Nazi group.
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For three days the neo-Nazis ran the account and used it to attempt to recruit from Reid’s fan base and spread their hate and the spread antisemitic conspiracies that pornography is a Jewish plot.
“Men you are leaving a generation of youth to be indoctrinated by Zionists,” they posted to her millions of followers. “You can cry about how this interrupts your addiction, but if one person sees the truth then it is worth it.”
The neo-Nazis utilized the hacking to make a propaganda video which is now being shared across the extreme-right on Facebook, extremist forums, and YouTube. In it, a neo-Nazi stands alone in a forest and rambles on about pornography and then cuts to a video of a distraught Reid sobbing about the hacking. The video has begun to be shared in some online communities where the neo-Nazi message is stripped and the group is presented as mere “anti-porn activists.”
The propaganda video ends with a demand for “capital punishment for pornographers.”
Reid did not immediately respond to VICE News’ request for comment but told AVN that the hackers ran a SIM swap hack which allowed them access to her phone number and two-factor authentication. This led them to have access to not just her social media pages but also her Spectrum, Microsoft Office, Venmo, Amazon, and eBay accounts. On Instagram, in a video viewed by VICE News, Riley posted an emotional video telling her fans to disregard the transphobic and racist content. The story is no longer available.
“If you see fucking transphobic Nazi posts on my Twitter it’s not me,” Reid said through sobs. “They got my phone number transferred to their service provider. Officially my Twitter is hacked, it’s gone and I don’t know how to get help. They’re fucking posting transphobic stuff and I’m like ‘what the fuck.’”
The neo-Nazi group was in control of Reid’s account for several days. Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his subsequent gutting of the staff, there have been reports of prominent accounts being hacked and little to nothing being done about it for days. Reid has since gotten access back to her account but has posted remarkably little since the hacking.
This hacking came after two-factor authentication was changed at Twitter forcing those who don’t pay for Twitter Blue to stop using two-factor authentication or use an alternative form of protection like an authenticator app or hardware key—both of which are more secure than a phone number. Twitter did not respond to VICE News’ request for comment.
The targeting of Reid fits into the neo-Nazi group’s ideology as they view pornography as a Jewish plot to weaken society. Joshua Fisher-Birch, an analyst at the Counter Extremism Project, told VICE News that while it’s not the main message, “anti-pornography propaganda is commonly found in various extreme-right communities” and fits into their “extreme sexism.”
There has been a war against the adult industry raging for years now. Figures, and not just those in neo-Nazi communities, have called for the death of porn performers, and others who work in the industry. In April of 2021, the CEO of Pornhub’s $20 million Montreal mansion went up in flames in an apparent arson—the neo-Nazi group who hacked Reid has shared the photograph celebrating the violence on their Telegram page
At one point during the hacking, the account seemingly began to argue with itself as if two people were fighting for control. At one point the account began writing things questioning the hacking such as “Doing this was supposed to feel great. not really getting that “cool hacker” feeling right now,” and “Was it really worth it? Was taking from a girl and making her cry worth it?” Shortly thereafter though they wrote someone was “challenging their access” and that “someone else tried to steal our spotlight.”
The group that hacked Reid’s account is a small one, possibly consisting of a member or two, but one that is tapped into the larger network of accelerationist neo-Nazis. One previous member of the group was arrested and charged with an alleged plot to shoot up a Walmart. This member was referred to frequently during the hack as they demanded he be freed.
If you have any information regarding neo-Nazi activities we would love to hear from you. Please reach out to Mack Lamoureux via email at mack.lamoureux@vice.com or on Twitter at @macklamoureux to ask for a Signal number.
The group’s ideology is explicitly accelerationist—meaning they want to do actions to hasten the fall of society in order to build a white ethnostate from it—but is an odd one that has cobbled together ideas from various spaces, one expert previously described them as “amorphous” to VICE News. The group’s logo is a syringe and a previous leader described them as an “extremist alternative to the 12-step program, hence the syringe logo… Extremism and purpose are the only way to abstain from bad habits.”
Fisher-Birch told VICE News that the hack of Reid’s account marked a clear escalation for the group’s targeting of porn stars as it crossed into illegal behavior.
“They’ve received interest from other groups outside of the specific accelerationist neo-Nazi community,” said Fisher-Birch. “So this has been reposted by others who otherwise might have some sort of argument with the accelerationist community. In this case, this is something that it’s just something that has its own momentum with at least the broader extreme right because they can get behind this.”
Mike Stabile, communications director for adult industry advocacy group Free Speech Coalition, told VICE News that while the weaponizing of shame some feel about sexuality has been around for thousands of years, as of late “it’s become a flashpoint for online communities, often younger men, upset about feminism or issues of social justice.”
“The brutal attack on Riley absolutely worries me,” said Stabile. “It’s violent, it’s aggressive and it’s clear that they delight in her terror. It allows them to hijack a popular account to spread hate — particularly among a community that might be vulnerable to the message.”
