Weaponized Memes, What Parents Should Know

A Series on Misinformation, Disinformation and Subterfuge

Gamer Gate, one of several dangerous and destructive movements Fredrick Brennan’s 8Chan was responsible for hosting, took memes up to the weaponized level. Brennan as well as others brought that garbage to Twitter, and have tested suicide ideation attacks on the mainstream platform along with power word combinations, and continue to target people. Eventually, many of these tactics will be adopted down the line by regular bullies looking to break down other kids at school.

Often the context of these attacks is only known by the target, making it harder for moderation to identify and kick out the reprobates, so I will explain many of these and what they mean. Many of the images I will be sharing here are disturbing, others will not. The importance of sharing these is raise awareness of weaponized imagery and why it is so dangerous.

First Up.

Let’s go with the obvious issue with this weaponized meme, the Ouroboredom account avatar holding a gun to its head. This single purpose hate account was recently banned for using a suicide suggestive phrase that the operator of the account intends to use paired with a suicidal suggestive image, and had his team in Twitter Safety quickly restore his account. That showed Twitter Safety is aware of and works with the criminal network engaged in ongoing suicide trolling as I previously reported.

New & Improved Suicide Ideation Attack Idea Approved by Twitter Safety

Sadly there are tons of guns to the head memes and violent images these perps have access to. A simple one like Ouroboredom above is normalized, making it highly useful in a combination attack with other inauthentic accounts directed at a target. Small accounts generally take the biggest risks, telling a kid to directly do something. Be aware and intervene on behalf of your child BEFORE that happens.

Below are two more examples, from a single purpose hate account directed at Amber Heard. The top one, a suicidal Marge Simpson sends the obvious intent directed at a witness during a previous trial.

The second image, is far more insidious of an attack than the gun to the head meme above, as most people, save the target will not understand the context of what is going on here.

This is a psychological attack, suggesting to the target they are “unwell,” “mentally ill,” “crazy,” “needs help,” and is generally combined with other subtle imagery and phrases repetitively to push that idea onto the victim. In our series, we have seen Mike Rothschild, Michelangelo Maccabee, Fredrick Brennan, Jan Bobrowicz and others use this tactic frequently aimed at Jim Stewartson, myself or others.

While I am an adult, know exactly what is going on, this sort of line of attack going on for months and in many cases for years for less fortunate targets, will have the psychological impact of creating self-doubt, depression and the sense of worthlessness opening up the victim to the more dangerous suicide suggestive memes and messages to fix the problem.

Here is a Gif, again from Jan.

The GIF sees the standing man shoot the man on the chair. The joke, the tagline “I work with Mensch,” is a clever one as she is currently linked to one suicide death and two suicide hospitalizations with one member of Jan’s group attempting to befriend the victims after attempts, perhaps to finish off the job. Twitter Safety has intentionally protected not just her multiple accounts and the networked operatives, but keeps her verified status up.

And yet another piece from Jan, which in the original altered the image with clear message to tell Jim Stewartson and I that we were the divorced dads, and more subtly that we should jump and kill ourselves. When I called him out for what it was, a clear suicide suggestive attack, Jan used the defense that it is only a meme.

Jan will eventually come across a teenager or a group of teens doing this sort of thing and end up killing one, as he is a prime alpha suicide troller in his group.

Next up is work produced by Mr. Maccabee, a criminal harasser in Minnesota using a strange AI program using my profile pic with a VoiceOver. I expect this program and others like it to be very popular among school bullies during the coming school year.

These ones are going to be VERY pernicious, with bullies likely applying a target’s image to some of the worst vocal recordings, combining power phrases with “I am” statements with the child’s image and widely sharing it among classmates.

This next one has been around a LONG time, even before the internet, the altered headline meme bullying attack.

This next one, by Rocco Castoro is a perfect example of an image that on its own lacks context of what the attack means to anyone other than the target.

I’ll explain it simply. Rocco has an “adult” oral fixation he wants to project to others in an effort to humilate. His timeline had plenty of more directed content that wasn’t so subtle that would get flagged by moderation, while this type of attack would likely stay up on Facebook, Instagram or wherever a perp was going after their victim.

Memes, GiFs and phrases DO matter. If your child says that someone is sending them unwanted messages look for a pattern of behavior, disconnect them from social media and remove the technology for some time to address what is going on. If the behavior directed to your child is sustained, get the proper authorities involved. Most importantly, keep the communication open with your kids. Always.