Shame: Twitter, Facebook users mobilize to identify white nationalists

Anonymous Twitter user @YesYoureRacist vowed to unmask the identities of white nationalist demonstrators over the weekend, and within an hour, the user named a Bay Area resident and his employer.

The fallout for Cole White was swift. Social media users called on his employer, Top Dog, a hot dog restaurant in Berkeley, to fire White. By Sunday, @YesYoureRacist claimed victory: White had left his job.

In the wake of a violent rally in Virginia over the weekend that left one person dead and 19 injured, counter-protesters flocked

to Twitter and Facebook asking the public to #ExposeTheAltRight.

But while the tactic underscored the power of social media as a tool to squash opponents, it also raised questions about the impact and risks of rapidfire public shaming.

Naming people in photos doesn’t appear to violate Twitter’s online rules. However, the San Francisco-based tech firm does not allow users to post another person’s private and confidential information, such as their Social Security numbers or nonpublic personal email addresses. It also doesn’t allow users to make violent threats.

@YesYoureRacist told Washington, D.C. television station WUSA9, “I’m not ‘trying’ to get anyone fired, I just think people have a right to know if one of their neighbors, coworkers, employees, classmates etc. is attending white supremacist rallies.” This news organization reached out to the Twitter user through a direct message, but @YesYoureRacist did not respond. Public shaming isn’t happening only on Twitter. Over the weekend, Missouri resident Gregg Davis asked Facebook users to identify participants at the rally. By Monday, his post was shared more than 230,000 times.

But with some users quick to blame and label others, the public shaming tactic also fueled the spread of misinformation. The University of Arkansas had to do damage control over the weekend after Assistant Professor Kyle Quinn was mistakenly identified as a rally participant.

Quinn, who works at the university’s department of biomedical engineering, said he started receiving threatening emails and voicemails.

His home address was posted online. People wrote nasty comments on social media sites. And an online petition asked the university to fire him.

“My wife and I at that point did not feel safe to be in our home, so we decided to leave on Saturday night and stay with a friend,” he said Monday.

For Quinn, there were obvious drawbacks to public shaming on social media, especially if users aren’t getting the names right.

“I think it’s clear that there are people who are not going to do this in a responsible or ethical way,” he said. “and in no way would I support that sort of behavior.”

But as more people post videos and photos online, some media experts expect social media outing to grow.

“The really egregious event in Charlottesville is bringing to the forefront that people can no longer stand still. That they need to say something. I think that what we’re also seeing is people are tired of being swept under the rug,” said Peter Young, an instructor at San Jose State University’s journalism and mass communications department.

Efforts to identify demonstrators have been going on for years, including by police, said Chris Hoofnagle, a law professor at UC Berkeley who focuses on information privacy and consumer protection.

“We have very strong protections for our speech and a right to assembly against our government, but virtually no protection against private retaliation for free speech,” he said.

Employers often can dismiss an employee for any reason. On Monday, Top Dog issued a statement to news outlets saying White voluntarily resigned.

Exposing someone on social media is a tactic that can be used by both the left and right.

“This is all about private censorship and shame,” Hoofnagle said. “If you’re willing to accept it as OK, then think about what this would mean if this were done to you.”