Europe’s biggest trolling army, Reconquista Germanica, has clear political goals. “Do you think they are dangerous?” O asks me. “You tell ...
Europe’s biggest trolling army, Reconquista Germanica, has clear political goals. “Do you think they are dangerous?” O asks me.
“You tell me,” I say.
“Well, I wouldn’t want them to have my name,” he says. For fear of being targeted by neo-Nazi trolls, most people – even some of his friends – don’t know his real name. On WhatsApp, he uses two fake names.
This is not unusual. Trolls do everything to keep their real identity hidden, even from their closest online allies. Die Vulgäre Analyse (TVA), a popular German YouTuber and troll known for burning the Quran and releasing Islamophobic and misogynistic content, even uses two VPNs. The worst nightmare for any troll is when their online identity is matched with their real identity.
“Doxxing?”
“Precisely,” O says.
I promise to not leak his name, and enter the war rooms of Reconquista Germanica on the gaming application Discord.
My avatar account is among 7,000 virtual soldiers who are obeying the daily orders of Supreme Commander Nikolai Alexander. I am called Isabella I, in reference to the Queen of Castile in the late fifteenth century. She and King Ferdinand II of Aragon ordered the conversion or exile of Muslims and Jews living in Spain and are known for completing...
