Lies And Distortions: CNN Experiences Huge Backlash After Threatening Reddit User - May Have Committed A Felony

Backlash After CNN Threatens Reddit User

CNN sparked a backlash Tuesday night after threatening to identify the Reddit user who claimed to have created a meme of Donald Trump body-slamming the CNN logo that the president later shared on Twitter.

CNN targeted Reddit user HanAssholeSolo because he took credit for the video and apparently had a history of making racist and anti-Semitic remarks online.

CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski opted not to identify the user “because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again.”

But Kaczynski then added that “CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change,” seemingly indicating that CNN would identify the user if he repeats his “ugly behavior” on social media. 

That sentence was widely interpreted as a threat. Kaczynski, who disputed that characterization, seemed especially upset that the Reddit user “was someone who shared an image of CNN reporters’ face with Stars of David next them.”

Kaczynski stated that the Reddit user’s public apology came after CNN identified and reached out to him.

CNN threatens amateur satirist behind Trump video: make fun of us again and we dox you,” WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter.

“I can’t emphasize how bad this is on CNN’s part,” wrote German Lopez, a reporter for liberal website Vox. “This is basically ‘don’t post stuff we don’t like or we’ll dox you.’ Extremely unethical.”

“That’s essentially blackmail. That’s CNN stating that it will out the guy if he dares to defy their political perspective or offends them sufficiently,” wrote conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. “The whole story is frightening, and obviously an attempt to both nail Trump and discourage people from smacking CNN.”

Others leveled similar criticisms at CNN for the piece, with many using the hashtag #CNNBlackmail, which quickly became the top trending hashtag on Twitter.

Republican congressman Scott Taylor was among those accusing CNN of committing blackmail. “Pretty sure a line is crossed here,” he added.

The backlash against CNN’s coverage of an anonymous Reddit user is just the latest in a string of bad publicity for the media company.

CNN recently fired hosts Kathy Griffin and Reza Aslan after each launched off-color attacks on Trump. Griffin held a photo shoot that featured a mock beheading of the president, while Aslan called Trump a “piece of shit.” (RELATED: CNN Host Who Ate Human Brain Says Trump Is An ‘Embarrassment To Humankind’)

CNN was forced to correct and rewrite an anonymously-sourced story that claimed James Comey would debunk Trump’s statement that Comey thrice assured him that he was not under FBI investigation. (Comey confirmed, rather than refuted, Trump’s statement.)

Just weeks later, CNN retracted, deleted and then apologized for, a single-sourced story that claimed Trump adviser Anthony Scaramucci was the subject of investigation as part of the Senate’s Russia probe. Scaramucci reportedly threatened to sue CNN for $100 million if they didn’t retract the story. Two CNN editors and a reporter resigned over their role in the botched story. (RELATED: CNN’s Month-Long Nightmare)

Activist James O’Keefe then began releasing a series of undercover videos targeting CNN employees. One CNN producer agreed with Trump’s sentiment that the Trump-Russia stories are largely a “witch hunt,” while another was caught making disparaging comments about White House counselor Kellyanne Conway’s face.

4Chan Declares War On CNN, The "Media Mafia" After They Threaten To Dox Reddit User

Could it get any worse for CNN? Glad you asked, it just did.

With the typical snowflake, social justice warrior mentality, CNN and the rest of the establishment media went into full victimhood mode, claiming the GIF of Trump body-slamming a logo, was somehow an incitement to violence against all media.

CNN THREATENS TO DOX REDDIIT USER OVER WWE GIF

Definition for Dox: search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the Internet, typically with malicious intent.

CNN, not knowing when to quit when their journalistic malpractice was finally out of the spotlight, decided to shoot themselves in the head by "tracking down" a Reddit user who claimed he originally created the much talked about and shared GIF the president tweeted, then publishing an article saying the original Reddit user had apologized so they would not be publishing his name unless of course the user decided to go back to his "ugly behavior on social media," in where "CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change."

Instantly the Twitter #1 trending hashtag was created #CNNBlackmail, where even progressive liberal writers like the senior reporter for Vox, German Lopez, states "I can't emphasize how bad this is on CNN's part. This is basically "don't post stuff we don't like or we'll dox you." Extremely unethical."

Headlines now are calling CNN "Thug Journalism," and others calling them the Media Mafia, while CNN, for the fourth time in so many weeks, is now back into complete damage control mode, with CNN KFile's Andrew Kaczynski is denying the passage quoted above was a "threat."

4CHAN DECLARES FULL SCALE ' WAR' AGAINST CNN - OPERATION: AUTISM STORM BEGINS

If CNN thought they were having problems before with the lies, the retractions, the forced resignations and the undercover videos from Project Veritas (another one of those is due out later), this latest decision to "track down" an Internet user for no other reason than they created an Internet GIF meme that CNN did not like, has not only brought about massive  and instant backlash against the news outlet, but users of 4chan, have now declared war against CNN.

4chan is has been dubbed "weaponized autism" users, an expression referring to the impressive capabilities of socially awkward, tech-savvy internet users, typically associated with those who frequent imageboards like 4chan and 8chan, and some of their recent antics included the unmasking of the Antifa professor that assaulted Trump supporters with a U-lock bike lock, leading to the arrest of California professor Eric Clanton, and the hunt for the Shia Labeouf flag, where using stars, sounds, map locations, they trolled him across the world in order to disrupt his planned 4-year Trump protest, resulting in the end of the protest.

4chan, while being no fans of Reddit, are now taking this CNN threat to dox the Reddit user, as a threat against the Internet community as a whole, for using the constitutional right of free speech simply because CNN took issue with a retouched, amusing GIF that the president then tweeted out.

They have begun "Operation: Autism Storm" in where they are calling for users to "unite" saying this is an "attack on the internet way of life as a whole," while calling for a "FULL SCALE MEME WAR," while publishing a list of CNN advertisers with instructionsto "e-mail bomb their advertisers and threaten to stop purchasing their products because we don't want to buy from a company that endorses blackmail, harassment, and lying to the public

A quick visit to one of the archived threads over at 4chan, shows other comments such as "CNN underestimates the power of neets and their infinite amount of time to make their lives miserable," along with one user providing a full list of CNN advertisers, with another suggesting compiling a full list of email addresses to add to the list of advertisers, while others take it a bit too far and suggest that CNN employees get dox'd themselves, including families, which in this writers opinion, crosses a line. Family members should never be a target.

The whole thread can be read here - WARNING- Offensive language and content.

Note - The meme war portion of thier list has already begun as multiple " memes" are already going viral across social media, including ISIS-style images with the CNN logo in place of the ISIS beheaders head, he CNN logo on the shied of a law enforcement official while he stomps on a persons head, CNN logo on a man holding a gun and a woman hostage... and many, many more.

DID CNN COMMIT A CRIME IN THREATENING TO DOX AN INTERNET USER?

Another interesting issue was raised by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who tweets "CNN just committed a crime violating § 135.60 of the New York criminal code "coercion," then links to "New York Consolidated Laws, Penal Law - PEN § 135.60 Coercion in the second degree," with a copy of the relevant statue:

Gateway Pundit takes it a step further and highlights federal law CNN may have violated with their threat: 18 U.S. Code § 241 – Conspiracy against rights, which states "If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same..."

Ted Cruz is Concerned CNN May Have Committed a Felony

In a pair of tweets, Sen. Ted Cruz laid out a troubling development for CNN’s threatened doxxing of a Reddit meme creator who posted a video of President Trump wrestling their logo.

Cruz’s take is that CNN could be open to a felony charge.

(1/2) Troubling. I assume CNN's lawyers are examining GA § 16-8-16 Theft by extortion. If CNN constructively obtained the gif-maker's IP… https://t.co/ChxqocuDgc

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 5, 2017

(2/2) it's a GA crime if they threatened to "Disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule…." https://t.co/ChxqocuDgc

OCGA § 16-8-16 reads, in whole:

(a) A person commits the offense of theft by extortion when he unlawfully obtains property of or from another person by threatening to:

(1) Inflict bodily injury on anyone or commit any other criminal offense;

(2) Accuse anyone of a criminal offense;

(3) Disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule or to impair his credit or business repute;

The highlighted portions may be of interest to whoever is on Jeff Zuckers “better call Saul” speed dial. CNN would potentially have to show, in defense, that their action as “honestly claimed as restitution or indemnification for harm done.” I’m no lawyer, but I don’t see the harm done by the GIF. CNN’s statement on why they didn’t doxx the GIF’s creator, however, rings of extortion.

Of course, even having a case would require a district attorney, like Dekalb County DA Sherry Boston, to open an investigation and eventually charge CNN.

Just possibly, Sen. Cruz, unarguably one of the more experienced and respected lawyers in America, might have a point here. So DA Boston, you might want to pay attention to it.

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