The KKK, Anonymous and #OpKKK. What is going on?

What is going on with the KKK and Anonymous recently? Been hearing lots of hearsay about these two groups but not sure what is real and what isn’t? Here’s what’s happening…

The KKK and Anonymous are two groups with opposing ideologies. The KKK is a white supremacy, extremist group. Anonymous are an online activism group that often campaigns against extremist groups, and in the past have attacked the likes of the Westboro Baptist Church.

In October 2015, Anonymous asserted that they would reveal the identities of up to 1000 KKK members (or people affiliated with the group) and that those names would be released on November 5th 2015, Guy Fawkes night – a big night in the online hacking world. However days before November 5th, certain names, including some high profile US politicians, were apparently “leaked” onto a site called PasteBin, and the accusations soon began to fly.

But many have expressed doubts that the people named in this apparent leak are indeed affiliated with the KKK, or that those names even came from Anonymous.

The problem with an organisation like Anonymous, which is exactly what the name implies, is that anyone could theoretically claim to be acting on their behalf, which inevitably causes plenty of confusion. Anonymous has no apparent structure, nor any official public spokespeople. It’s shrouded in anonymity and many online identities have claimed to be acting on their behalf when that has not appeared to be the case.

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It is also difficult to know who would constitute an “official” member of Anonymous since such a title may very well not exist. Two or more groups of people could very well claim to be operating on behalf of the organisation and any of these groups could have just as much right to do so as the others, meaning the possibility that relatively independent factions of Anonymous could very well exist.

So when certain names got linked onto PasteBin days before the “official” leak date of November 5th, there was no ‘sure fire’ way of determining if the names actually came from the online hacking group, or at least a faction or offshoot of it.

But many commentators have dismissed the leaked names as false, for several reasons, including –

– The date they were leaked. Anonymous claimed they would leak the names on November 5th, not before. There would be little reason for Anonymous to leak the names early.

– A Twitter handle – Operation_KKK which is believed to be associated with the Anonymous organisation – or at least the relevant faction of Anonymous – has claimed that the list did not come from them and that several politicians had been “incorrectly outed.”

– One of the politicians outed as a KKK member was Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, who herself is part of an interracial family and has fought to reduce violence against ethnic minorities, making her an unlikely candidate for a KKK affiliation.

– Another Twitter handle – Amped Attacks – has taken credit for the leak and claimed they were not working with the “Operation KKK” – the name given to the Anonymous “operation”.

Despite all this, trying to confirm anything related to Anonymous or their activities is inherently difficult given the nature of the group, and many are moving to dismiss the names revealed on the list.

The November 5th date still looms, and no doubt the media will be waiting in anticipation as more accusations and their inevitable denials will soon follow. It is worth remembering – especially for those trigger happy media outlets – that anyone could “sign up” to the KKK website with false information, meaning even if Anonymous do link certain people to the hate group, it doesn’t mean they are a member or have anything to do with them whatsoever.

The chances seem quite likely that this is going to spiral into a mess of accusations, denials, character assassinations and hearsay, of which none of it will probably ever be truly verifiable.