Zello: A Recruitment & Organizing Tool For The Far Right

[Nevilledog]

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On the Media
@onthemedia
Per @BostonJoan, the way far-right groups organize online “has to do with them unapologetically believing that they can actually become a proxy for law enforcement.”

Zello: A Recruitment & Organizing Tool For The Far Right | On the Media | WNYC Studios
How violence surrounding the election began unfolding months earlier.
wnycstudios.org
1:42 PM · Jul 4, 2021

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/zello-recruitment-organizing-tool-far-right-on-the-media

On October 8, 2020, Americans learned that the FBI had arrested members of a militia plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. When Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump to disavow this very type of militia activity during the first presidential debate, the President uttered a now-famous backhanded endorsement: “Stand back and stand by.” The foiled plot and the President’s comments added new urgency to a question often posed by the press: will there be violence surrounding elections?

On the Media reporter/producer Micah Loewinger teamed up with Hampton Stall, founder of the MilitiaWatch blog, to monitor Zello, a walkie-talkie social media app favored by far-right groups, to understand how they organized ahead of the 2020 election and what can be done to stop further violence. They documented over 200 far-right channels on the app, ranging from III% militias to QAnon groups to outright white nationalist organizations, all of which appear to violate the app's terms of service.

A Zello employee, who asked to remain anonymous, says the company has known about far-right groups on its platform since June, but chose not to kick them off or implement new moderation practices that would deter future organizing. Zello responded to these allegations, saying that the employee's characterization is "inaccurate and misleading." (Scroll down to read two full-length statements from Zello regarding On The Media's reporting.)

In this piece, which first aired in October 2020, Micah and Hampton speak with Joan Donovan, Research Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, about how social media has facilitated radicalization. They also interview Megan Squire, professor of computer science at Elon University, about the rhetoric far-right groups use to justify vigilante activity. And, we hear from Robin Kemp, a reporter with the Clayton Crescent, about a Black Lives Matter event in Georgia that attracted militia activity.

*snip*

[EYESORE 9001]

1. Here's hoping it also serves

as an infiltration and intelligence tool for the FBI and other federal agencies.

[Walleye]

2. Kyle Rittenhouse certainly thought he was part of law-enforcement. He might get away with it yet

[Blue Owl]

3. You say Zello I say good bye