Jan 6 Committee Members Targeted by Violent Rhetoric on Rightwing Social Media Platforms

Online threats persist as Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger disclosed Sunday that he had received a letter from the mail in which he was threatened with execution along with his wife and their newborn child.

Both Twitter and Facebook decided to remove then-President Donald Trump from their platforms for rule-breaking following the insurrection. This was a huge boon to the emerging cottage industry of social media platforms.

Alternative sites like Trump’s Truth Social platform launched in February.

They market themselves as bastions for free speech and capitalize on the perception that some Republicans have been unfairly censored. Truth Social claims it seeks to establish a “free speech haven” in social media and encourages unencumbered expression. According to its terms of service, posts must not be “violent” nor “harassing.”

A CNN analysis shared by the group Advance Democracy, a non-profit that conducts investigations into public interest, found posts on Truth Social calling to execute January 6 committee members. Researchers searched the platforms for terms like “execute”.

Truth Social posted a photo of a noose with the caption, “The J6 Committee are guilty of Treason.” They all should be hanged for inciting an insurrection.

On another post referencing Cheney, a user posted a GIF of a guillotine with the message, “#MGGA #MakeGuillotinesGreatAgain.”

CNN asked Truth Social to comment on several posts that contained violent rhetoric. These included posts featuring a photo of a noose, and a GIF showing a guillotine. CNN reached out to Truth Social for comment but they did not reply. However, it appeared that the posts had been removed from the platform by Wednesday.

Advance Democracy, along with Truth Social, also noted violent rhetoric related to January 6th, 2015, posted to 4chan, which was used in the mass shooting at Buffalo, New York, as well as Gab and another message board popular with some Trump supporters.

Although many of the posts Advance Democracy identified did not seem to get much engagement, they all illustrate a trend of invocations of violence in these online communities.

A user posted earlier this month on a pro-Trump message board, “IF WE EVER decide to storm the capital once again, I promise that we won’t make a mistake of being unarmed a third time.” Since then, the post has been removed.

Andrew Torba, Gab’s CEO, stated to CNN that Gab allows all lawful political speech as long as it is protected under the First Amendment. This includes speech on inherently political topics like the US judicial system treason charge and punishment. If discussion leads to imminent and direct threats of violence, we will take appropriate action and work together with law enforcement partners to minimize any threat to the public.

Although many of the people who post on these sites won’t go on to become violent criminals, some will, as shown by the posts on social media of some of the people charged with insurrection.

“Given that content, moderation is lacking on fringe platforms inhabited largely by far-right communities,” Ben Decker said to CNN. He was the CEO of Memetica a digital investigation company.

Decker stated that the most concerning posts seem to encourage “real world violence [and] are similar to many of the threats that emerged during the week leading up to January 6.

President of Advance Democracy Daniel J. Jones stated that the online threats seem to be from people who believe the 2020 election was rigged. He stated that Trump’s lies and actions, as well as those of his supporters, “continue to be a threat to democracy and peaceful transitions of power.”

The United States Capitol Police did not respond to our request. CNN reached out to Pence’s Office, the FBI and Cheney’s Office for comment.