ATTN TIKTOK: This man is full of sh*t, and amplifying his account is a really bad idea! Since the story of the tunnels under the jewish synagogue in Crown Heights broke on Monday, this man named “Richard” has been getting tons of attention for quote tweeting old posts of his where he claims he was hearing yiddish under the floor of his NYC apartment, and says that jews were digging beneath him. His posts blew up and soon “Richard” was cited on news programs and in media all over the internet. Many articles characterized Richard as a "Crown Heights resident" But when you start looking into it there are red flags all over. First of all, in this area of Crown Heights heights, almost all residential buildings are pre war and have basements. Also, almost all of the residents in that direct surrounding area are hasidic jews. There's nothing about Richard's account that indicates he's a hasidic jew, or that he has ever even lived in Crown Heights. In fact, he never once posted about Crown Heights before the news of the tunnels broke. His alleged old tweets about jewish people living below him aren't live on his account, and he claims that's because he was forced to delete them for sounding conspiratorial. But, he says that before deleting them, he took screenshots. Not only do the screenshots show signs of manipulation, but if he in fact DID take these screenshots from his own profile, then there shouldn't be a "follow" button. So we know he didn't take the screenshots and we know the tweets probably aren't real. But if you look further into the motivations of this account, it's actually much more insidious. If you've spent too much time online, you'll recognize that "Richard" has all the hallmarks of a groyper account. The Groyper movement is a loose network of extreme far-right white nationalist activists and internet trolls who gravitate around several key online influencers, most notably Nick Fuentes. From the ISD, a non profit focused on extremism: Groypers represent a new momentum within American white nationalism. They have a particular focus on capturing members of Generation Z, and in portraying themselves as American Christian nationalists, hope to attract disaffected conservatives by exploiting schisms and grievances within mainstream conservatism. Groypers – also known as the ‘Groyper Army’ – are opposed to liberal values, feminism, LQBTQ+ rights and progressive ideology, believing that shifting racial and cultural demographics present an existential threat to white European-American identity and culture. Groypers regard the broader mainstream conservative movement as weak and unwilling to confront such changes, and refer to it as ‘Conservative Inc.’. By ignoring topics such as demographics and traditional family values (i.e. which they perceive as acceptance of LGBTQ+ persons) Groypers believe mainstream conservatives have sold out to the left on the culture war front and therefore need to be dragged back to the right. Richard has posted frequently in the style of a groyper on his page. He's voiced support of Nick Fuentes, Kanye West, and Donald Trump. This is how these people work their way into culture. Already, thanks to these fake viral tunnel tweets, this totally anonymous far right, highly bigoted white nationalist account is getting a huge bump in engagement and followers. >>> Follow me for more tech and online culture breakdowns <<< #politics #crownheights #news #journalism #tunnels #jewishtiktok #factcheck #contentcreator #creator #influencer #journalist #tunnels #hasidic #nyc #newyorkcity #newyork #twitter #elonmusk #apps #internet #onlineculture #internetculture #tiktok