GoDaddy, the web-hosting company, is terminating its relationship with the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, which has been offering incendiary apologetics for last weekend’s white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In a tweet, the company announced that the publication had 24 hours “to move the domain to another provider,” explaining that the Daily Stormer had “violated our terms of service.”
We informed The Daily Stormer that they have 24 hours to move the domain to another provider, as they have violated our terms of service.
— GoDaddy (@GoDaddy) August 14, 2017
It is unclear which specific clauses in the company’s terms of service the neo-Nazi publication had violated—perhaps the prohibition on “encourag[ing] … terrorism, violence against people, animals, or property.”
The GoDaddy announcement came the same day that the Daily Stormer’s editor, Andrew Anglin, heaped scorn on Heather D. Heyer, the Charlottesville resident killed when a car drove into a crowd of counterprotesters. Using terms too vile and crass to repeat here, Anglin attacked the dead woman’s appearance and character.
James Alex Fields, Jr. of Maumee, Ohio was arrested at the scene and has been charged with Heyer’s murder.
Meanwhile, a post appearing atop the Daily Stormer site this morning claimed that the website had been taken over by Anonymous, the international hacker collective.
“END OF HATE,” read a message on the site, “ANONYMOUS NOW IN CONTROL OF DAILY STORMER.” The message is accompanied by the Guy-Fawkes-mask images that are the hacker-collective’s hallmark.
“WE HAVE TAKEN THIS SITE IN THE NAME OF HEATHER HEYER A VICTIM OF WHITE SUPREMACIST TERRORISM,” the message said.
The apparent Anonymous post notes that the site will be shut down “PERMANENTLY” after 24 hours.
A prominent voice of Anonymous on Twitter, however, denied that the hacking organization had attacked the Nazi blog, suggesting the post was a Daily Stormer hoax intended to obscure why the site would be closed down. (Because Anonymous represents a loose coalition of hackers, it could not immediately and unilaterally disclaim responsibility.)
We have no confirmation that “Anonymous” is involved yet. Looks more like a DS stunt. Wonder if they are having issues finding a new host. https://t.co/ikXXRBfC5p
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) August 14, 2017
We find claim that it took a “UNITED FORCE OF ELITE HACKERS” to hack a CMS run by amateurs incredibly amusing.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) August 14, 2017
This is likely to be the derps from dailystormer engaging in a silly troll to woo their clueless base. If we’re proven wrong, so be it. https://t.co/dkiXGCDEwY
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) August 14, 2017
It is unclear whether the timing of the GoDaddy decision is linked to the timing of the apparent Anonymous hack.
Early Monday afternoon, Anglin posted that he had taken the site back from Anonymous.
“At one point during the attack, weev and I were literally both typing on the same keyboard, and we bruteforce outwitted the Jewish Anonymous hackers,” Anglin claimed.
And Reuters is reporting that the site has moved from Go Daddy to Google. Let’s see how long that lasts.
UPDATE: Neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer moves registration to Google after GoDaddy severs ties pic.twitter.com/h1LzMquYQt
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) August 14, 2017
