Frogtwitter

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Frogtwitter is a network of loosely-connected pseudonymous

far-right[1] that formed around writer and online personality Costin Alamariu.[2]

History

The name itself is likely to have derived from either the Pepe the Frog meme[3][4] or from Aristophanes' comedy The Frogs, as speculated by Josh Vandiver.[5] There was a wave of Twitter suspensions for Frogtwitter members in early 2017,[6] followed by a one-off art exhibition in Dalston (a neighborhood of London) open until that May.[7]

Definitions and descriptions

Definitions and descriptions of Frogtwitter vary depending by source and perspective. BuzzFeed simply refers to it as "Alt Right on Twitter."[3] Jacob Siegel, writing for The Baffler, calls it a group "with a similar blend of reactionary and post-libertarian thinking"[8] to Cody Wilson. Siegel also interviewed a member of Frogtwitter, who states, "a lot of it is just having fun with words on the internet... intellectualizing while wanting to communicate serious ideas in a very high-noise environment", and that the group's main thesis is that "there's a decadence, a decline and eventually it will be followed by something else."[8] Ben Schreckinger, writing for Politico, described it as "a network [...] that revel[s] in mythic, aristocratic pasts while trafficking in racism and anti-Semitism."[9]

Andrew Sabisky, writing for

progressive liberalism."[11]

According to popular member "Bronze Age Pervert", as quoted by Tara Isabella Burton for Vox, Frogtwitter does not advocate for a particular political project but is rather a "dissatisfaction with modern life in many ways for the same reasons liberals were dissatisfied before... It's a world that's tightly controlled, repressive, ugly, extremely polluted."[12] Jacob Siegel notes that Frogtwitter limits its "activism" to tweets alone,[8] but that may not be without consequence, troll and noted 2016 election influencer[13] "Ricky Vaughn" is being sued for the spreading of misinformation and election interference.[14]

Themes

Ben Schreckinger did a brief survey of some of the themes occupying the minds of Frogtwitter: "Figures in this space frequently refer to their belief that elite media is preparing Americans for a

Udmurt people, a small ethnic group that lives mostly in Russia, and the fact that a high proportion of its members have red hair."[9] The accounts also "oppose mass migration, echoing the themes of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory (...) [which] claims that European elites are secretly conspiring to replace their countries' white majorities with immigrants from Africa and the Middle East."[9]

GNET researchers Joshua Molloy and Eviane Leidig highlight particular aspects of Frogtwitter's affection for

PUFAs, seed oils and soy products.[15]

Andrew Sabisky describes a viral tweet, retweeted by Ann Coulter, by user "menaquinone4" as typical Frogtwitter output which both affirmed and mocked the "Deep state" conspiracy theory by contrasting two pictures, one of a movie star playing a spy holding a sniper rifle next to a picture of former CIA member and 2016 presidential candidate Evan McMullin eating a snack, headed by the caption: "deep state: what you think ur getting vs. what you're actually getting".[6]

"Kantbot"'s viral moment in late 2016 exemplifies some of Frogtwitter's more esoteric themes. Jacob Siegel describes the event in The Baffler: "you may have encountered the viral video of a portly, curly-haired young man in glasses and peacoat going on about Thule. He is holding forth at an anti-Trump rally to an amused reporter and an agitated crowd, explaining that president [Trump] is going to resurrect the lost city of Atlantis and do what Hegel and Fichte could not, by completing the system of German idealism."[8]

Notable members and adjacencies

Prominent members of Frogtwitter mentioned in the media were:

These personalities often boast many thousands of online followers.[17]

Anarchist

neoreactionary movement.[8] Joshua Molloy and Eviane Leidig make note of the close relationship between the Right Wing Bodybuilder (RWBB) movement and Frogtwitter.[15][22] According to a friend of Spectator writer Grayson Quay, Tucker Carlson's writers 'literally live' on frogtwitter.[18]

References

  1. ^ Schreckinger, Ben (May 8, 2020). "World War Meme". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  2. ^
    OCLC 1243906350.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  3. ^ a b "A Normal Person's Guide To How Far-Right Trolls Talk To Each Other". BuzzFeed News. March 3, 2017. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  4. ^ Nuzzi, Olivia (May 26, 2016). "How Pepe the Frog Became a Nazi Trump Supporter and Alt-Right Symbol". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  5. ^ "Are the Kids Al(t)right?". Claremont Review of Books. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Sabisky, Andrew (February 27, 2017). "Silence of the Frogs: Why is Twitter censoring harmless Pepe accounts?". International Business Times UK. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Sabisky, Andrew (May 12, 2017). "Inside frogtwitter's dark artistic mind". International Business Times UK. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Siegel, Jacob (April 30, 2018). "Send Anarchists, Guns, and Money | Jacob Siegel". The Baffler. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Schreckinger, Ben (August 23, 2019). "The alt-right manifesto that has Trumpworld talking". POLITICO. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  10. ^ Sixsmith, Ben (March 19, 2019). "Andrew Yang and His Gang". The American Conservative. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  11. ^ a b DeCarlo, Dan. "An Epic Pervert". The American Mind. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  12. ^ Burton, Tara Isabella (June 1, 2018). "The religious hunger that drives Jordan Peterson's fandom". Vox. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  13. ^ O'Brien, Luke (April 5, 2018). "Trump's Most Influential White Nationalist Troll Is A Middlebury Grad Who Lives In Manhattan". HuffPost. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  14. ^ "Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference Stemming from Voter Disinformation Campaign". www.justice.gov. January 27, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  15. ^ a b c d Molloy, Joshua (October 10, 2022). "The Emerging Raw Food Movement and the 'Great Reset'". GNET. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  16. ^ Gilmour, David (June 24, 2019). "Twitter lifts 'permanent' suspension of activist Barrett Brown". The Daily Dot. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  17. ^ a b c Ellwanger, Adam. "Frogs Can't Jump Backward". The American Mind. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Government by the Very Online". The Spectator World. February 17, 2022. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  19. ^
    ISSN 0099-9660
    . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  20. ^ "The Battle on the New Right for the Soul of Trump's America". Tablet Magazine. February 5, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  21. ^ Gabert-Doyon, Josh. "A Portrait of the Breakdown of Hope and Meaning in America". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  22. ^ Dazed (March 14, 2022). "Unpacking the weird alt-right propaganda behind the raw meat movement". Dazed. Retrieved January 23, 2023.

External links

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