Emma Watson threats actually stunt to shut down 4chan

[LostInAnomie]

Emma Watson: Viral marketing firm claims responsibility for apparent 4chan threat against Harry Potter star

Updated 24 Sep 2014, 11:28pm

A threat against actress Emma Watson in response to a gender equality speech she made at the United Nations now appears to have been a viral marketing stunt.

Social media users rallied behind Watson in condemning the threats and blaming 4chan users for the website. But it now appears to have been a marketing stunt by an organisation called Rantic, which aims to shut down 4chan.

The redirected page now shows a message to US president Barack Obama and calls on people to support the calls to shut down the site.

"We have been hired by celebrity publicists to bring this disgusting issue to attention," the statement said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/emma-watson-threats-actually-stunt-to-shut-down-4chan/5766882

Bet this won't get as much attention as yesterday's daily outrage.

[NuclearDem]

1. ...so?

4chan is still the cesspool of the internet.

[LostInAnomie]

2. So, it means the last outrage was bullshit.

It means some scum bag marketing firm was hired by someone with a grudge to make what were called "terrorist" threats on here in an attempt to frame them.

Maybe, just maybe, some will learn that they should save their pitchforks for when all the facts come out. This is especially true for when the outrage is about what someone on an anonymous internet forum posts.

[cyberswede]

7. The threat was still threatening to Emma Watson...up until that time that it was revealed as a hoax.

If someone points a gun at you, you might be afraid...up until they tell you it's loaded with blanks.

The threat was despicable whether or not it was ever really possible (or intended).

[The Straight Story]

3. Sounds like a terroristic threat against all websites and an attempt to control speech

Or something like that.

[LostInAnomie]

5. Yep, definitely "terrorism".

Rantic and the people that paid them should be brought up on terrorism charges... if the logic used yesterday follows.

[tridim]

4. "Shutting down websites" is a horrifying phrase

Even though I agree that 4chan is trash.

[cyberswede]

6. Can you explain your term "daily outrage?"

Threatening to post nude photos of someone as retribution for an opinion on an issue is outrageous. That is was a hoax doesn't make it less so. Bomb threats are usually hoaxes. Are they funny?

And your OP is a dupe:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014902175

[LostInAnomie]

11. It's pretty plainly stated.

DU has daily outrages. If you've spent any time on here it is obvious. Porn, prostitution, circumcision, white privilege, rape culture, what words should be banned, etc., they all get their turns.

The point is that these threats weren't made by 4chan. All the vitriol directed towards 4chan (in multiple threads I'll point out) was misdirected. In fact, it was intentionally misdirected by a marketing group for the purpose of maligning them in the hopes of stifling free speech and shutting the website down.

[LanternWaste]

14. And yet Watson's photos were still leaked against her will, regardless of the culprit.

And yet Watson's photos were still leaked against her will, regardless of the culprit. I imagine that her concerns (or, what you melodramatically and inaccurately call 'outrage') are yet still valid, despite the red-herrings creatively imagined.

[snooper2]

16. There are no photos, it was a hoax

[LanternWaste]

18. Whew... good to know this never happens, and the concern for it is overblown.

Whew... good to know this never happens, and the concern for it is overblown.

[seabeyond]

19. +1. it was successful because it happens all too often. nt

[ismnotwasm]

15. Maybe4chan engineered it.

Nobody can find Rantic.

We'll just never know.

[seabeyond]

20. none of my conversation the last 24 hours was about 4chan. they are irrelevant in the

conversation, as far as i was concerned.

[ismnotwasm]

22. Yup

They made a splash but are ultimately irrelevant to the point of the matter.

On edit--complaining about the use of the word "terrorism" is the new derailment tactic I see.

[cyberswede]

33. The reactions of the creeps at 4chan (before they knew it was a hoax) are pretty outrageous, as well

That they were taken in by a scam doesn't change the way the responded at all.

“It is real and going to happen this weekend. That feminist bitch Emma is going to show the world she is as much of a whore as any woman.”

"...she is a delicate flower and it is time for her fans to see her in full bloom, unlike your shitty cow tit attention whore there”

“she makes stupid feminist speeches at UN, and now her nudes will be online, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH”

Those aren’t even the bad ones. There are others that actually get violent, which I will not be posting. I’m also not linking to the board, as it contains really disturbing images.

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/228407/4chan-threatens-emma-watson-with-nude-photo-leak-over-un-speech-on-gender-equality/

Do you think being critical of stuff like the above is "misdirected?"

[seabeyond]

35. not to mention a thread on Di, our crazy uncle. men, with a different name that regularly

participate on du, freely able to say the most indecent things about this woman and the actions taken against her. someone linked me to the thread. like i would want to participate in the disgusting trash of man after man proudly letting all know... they did not give a fuck about this woman or what happens to her.

so fuggin disgusting, i was all like, why in the world would i participate in that filth.

that is the conversation.

[cyberswede]

36. That place is a sewer. nt

[seabeyond]

38. yes. and never have i wallowed in sewage. not gonna start now. nt

[LostInAnomie]

42. Scum bags on the internet! Who could have imagined!?

The anonymity of the internet allows people to freely do some scummy things. People that say things like that should be labeled idiots, sexists, bigots, etc.

Anonymity also allows people to set up hoaxes with the intent of getting a website shut down in the name of social justice.

Both are disgusting.

[cyberswede]

43. Yeah

People that say things like that should be labeled idiots, sexists, bigots, etc.

...or misogynists.

I don't agree that 4chan should be shut down, ftr.

[ZombieHorde]

8. Ha! I believed in the hoax.

They got me.

[seabeyond]

10. what they did was threaten a woman all in the name of marketing. nt

[ZombieHorde]

13. Oh, they are definately assholes, in my opinion.

My post was me laughing at myself, as opposed to the threat they made.

[seabeyond]

17. i want to see it as a crime. i am not the sucker. it was as much a given it was not 4chan as

it was they could not follow up. that was never the conversation for many of us. as a matter of fact, the very woman was not the conversation.

[seabeyond]

9. yet the point you, others totally ignore is that they did it because this is what 4chan and the net

have been doing this to women for half a decade.

all the market group did, was pick up what the net does and did it themselves. big fuckin whoop, on the giving shit that it is a hoax.

that is not the discussion. the discussion is that the net uses this as a tool, as a weapon to attack women on a regular fuckin' manner.

degrade. humiliate. shame. a woman thru her fuckin sexuality.

that has been the continuous argument.

do we know where the threat came from? no. the net. do you know that there will be a follow thru? no! the net. has there been men, that steal pictures and without consent put on line, for men to then pornify these women to get off on.... WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT.... making these women porn? YES!

your point... only strengthens mine and others argument.

so, who is the sucker?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5578725

just gonna copy and paste cause this seems to be the new meme to dismiss the actual conversation and re write history.

[LostInAnomie]

21. Right, except the threat was bullshit...

... and the people doing the threatening were hired by someone frame 4chan. They were only able to pull this hoax off because the reactions of the media and social justice groups are so predictable. They knew the media and other groups would not wait until the facts came out and fly into outrage mode. This happened indubitably, with accusations of "terrorism" being made against 4chan. This is the real story that you are ignoring.

This was an attempt to get a website shut down because someone doesn't like it. It was a false flag operation with the intent of getting internet censored and to stifle free speech. Following the logic on here yesterday, this would be considered "terrorism".

[seabeyond]

26. the threat was not bullshit. it was very real. in hoax or otherwise. call in a bomb to a theater,

the threat is real, regardless of it being a hoax.

not a tough one.

[ismnotwasm]

12. So?

Watson said very little about the situation herself, focusing on her campaign. 4Chan won't be shut down. Hell, I think rotten.com is still up.

Yup still is.

[LostInAnomie]

24. So, you don't think framing a website for what was called "terrorism"...

... by a marketing firm is a big deal?

[ismnotwasm]

25. Yawn.

Read the whole story.


In fact, I'll help. 4chan users were fooled as well

While it’s a relief that nobody was legitimately planning retaliation against the actress for her UN speech (although if Death and Taxes is to be believed, some 4Chan users also took the bait and were more than willing to revel in Watson’s public shaming), considering how terrible the past few months have been for women who use the Internet—enduring the trolls in #GamerGate, the theft and proliferation of hundreds of female celebrity nudes, that YouTube celebrity who claims he pretended to grope women on the street as a way to fight domestic violence—that someone would choose to capitalize on the widespread online harassment of women to make money is much more upsetting than the fact that it actually worked. Which is precisely why they chose it, of course.

http://www.themarysue.com/emma-watson-hoax/

[LostInAnomie]

29. I did.

Yes, people were fooled. That is the intent of a hoax.

[ismnotwasm]

32. Except no one can find Rantic

It appears to be wholly made up.

A hoax within a hoax within a hoax

Here’s the thing, though: Rantic Marketing doesn’t exist. It’s a front for a small team of hoaxers who once called themselves SocialVEVO and create these fake stories and websites in order to capitalize on page views before the general public figures out the truth. Previous known pranks include spreading rumors that the GTAV PC version would not be cancelled and then pretending that their own website had been hacked by 4chan; creating another fake countdown that promised to reveal a special message from Family Guy’s Brian shortly after the character’s death on the show; pretending to be NASA during the government shutdown; and running a fake Fox vertical known as “Fox Weekly,” on which the first article about the Emma Watson countdown was written. That article has since been deleted, but you can still view the cached version.

Not of which excuses the abysmal treatment women are subjected to on the Internet.

[LittleBlue]

23. So all this outrage was over a false flag operation?

Deception only works if the deceived don't find out.

[jamzrockz]

27. I thought the whole gamergate

censorship episode killed 4chan. Anyway, this is my problem with anonymous accusations coming from the internet. You can never really tell who sent it or for what purpose it was sent.

[seabeyond]

28. we do have a criminal system that can find out, and know and can have charges

placed against them.

[LostInAnomie]

30. As they should.

Someone at Rantic Marketing should go to prison.

[seabeyond]

31. and this is the only conversation i have been having. on the net, we do not know who,

but we clearly see what was done.

they should have added charges for their intent to go after 4chan also.

we are responsible with what you put out.

[Kalidurga]

41. Now you get it...

This wasn't a real hoax per se, it was a frame job and Emma Watson was still the presumed target. But, now we have a twofer they targeted 4chan and victimized Emma Watson along with that, I suppose they thought of her as collateral damage, thus they didn't think much about her.

[Xyzse]

34. Alright, I'll Defend this a little.

4Chan, which can be a cesspool in the internet is just like any other Message board site.

It is an anonymous board that allows people to post information, truth or fiction with little to no consequence to themselves.
One is able to gain notoriety by providing proof of exploit or something else or another.

They also break stories, political, celebrity and otherwise.

It is also where memes are born or suffer in anonymous ignominy.

4Chan is not monolithic, and so many of the users are lacking in maturity and are most likely kids.
However, they also serve an important function of providing and breaking information that would otherwise not be known.
Not to mention a way to expand and learn technical knowledge if you so choose.
It is like the astalavista.com of yore.

Even if I do not approve of the actions of many of its users, I am not keen in to having a marketing firm try to influence that site by shutting it down.

Thing was, while the outrage towards 4chan was going on in regards to the threats to Ms. Watson, I couldn't help but feel like this was a hoax. Since much of the users there would not care one iota about what she has mentioned any way, and if they did, the reaction would not be negative. Mostly it would be looked upon with perhaps condescension, a "Whatever" sort of attitude. A threat due to what someone says particularly a feminist message, did not look like something that they would do.

I agree that 4Chan is immature, but most of their actions are usually caused by stupid curiosity rather than planned malice. Much like their exploits are due to wanting to see what they can do, and showing off, rather than a reaction to something someone has said.

If such were the case, they would have gone after Jolie or Oprah.

I understand how people are still angry at the site, but if this is true, one should also take care of finding marketing firms trying to shut down one of the few avenues where people come together, talk and can actually look in to something to see if something is factual or not.

[seabeyond]

37. you might check out post 25 and 33. your assumption about 4chan reaction is wrong.

that being said. the conversation was never about 4chan per se.

who gives a shit about those weaselly bottom feeders.

[Xyzse]

39. I agree that the conversation should be off 4chan

As it should be towards the threats against women.

Just mentioning that I am not keen on anything trying to shut down a source of free thought.
Juvenile as it may be.

[seabeyond]

40. threatening, is not juvenile. holding women hostage to silence with tools, weapons

thru shame, humiliation, degradation is not juvenile. it is criminal.

[Xyzse]

44. I am not disagreeing with that.

Just saying, that I have separated the two issues. Which you've mentioned you have been doing as well.

I completely agree with what you have mentioned, in regards to threats towards women.

All I have been doing here however is say that, there are marketing forces trying to shut down a site that allows for free thought, no matter how juvenile it may be.

They were the ones that made such a threat, and it is separate from the 4chan issue. Even if I do agree that some of the users there threaten themselves and others at a daily basis.

That, again is due to different users, not 4chan the site itself. The site hosts the community, the users are the ones that do so.

I do think, that we agree that we should be going after the particular user/users who issued the threat, as it serves multiple purposes in two different concentrations.
1 - It was a terroristic threat towards a female celebrity.
2 - It was done as an attempt to close down a site which allows an exchange of ideas in free form.

[seabeyond]

45. they should be charged for what they did with watson, and equally what they did to 4chan. nt

[Xyzse]

46. Agreed. Thanks for seeing where I was coming from.

[seabeyond]

47. back atcha. nt