Illustration by Michelle Urra.
Since the Capitol Hill insurrection in January, America has been forced to grapple with how deep-seated the far-right has become. The images and videos of 3,000 people storming the center of U.S. democracy was shocking. It was also a reminder that rightwing activists are willing to get violent, and that their threats should be taken seriously.Just as many extremist movements do in the present day, the far-right has found a ready home in online cesspools like “Terrorgram”—the nickname for the terrorist ecosystem of neo-Nazis on the encrypted app Telegram—or Gab, a Twitter knockoff popular among extremists and MAGA types alike. As you can imagine, these apps are often where threats are made, propaganda videos for terror groups are spread, and where the masses of extremists collectively go to find the next target of their ire, which is usually a mix of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and any demographic of person they despise.But recently, Motherboard reporter Sam Cole, who normally reports on things like the porn industry and deepfakes, got a tip: There were what appeared to be militant white nationalists brandishing guns and threatening to murder executives at PornHub. She’s on this week’s episode of CYBER to tell us more.