Right-wing trolls misidentified young Jewish man as government agent, leading to fears for his safety
A fight between two groups of right-wing extremists led to a conspiracy theory that ensnared a recent Jewish college grad
After right-wing trolls misidentified a young Jewish man as a government agent, the antisemitic harassment got so bad that he fled his home. Photo by iStock by Getty Images
Right-wing trolls misidentified a young Jewish man on Twitter as a government agent, a falsehood that prompted a flood of antisemitic tweets. After Twitter CEO Elon Musk joined in the discourse — and the man’s address was leaked online — the outpour became so troubling that he fled his home.
Ben Brody, 22, a recent UC Riverside graduate student, was at a game at Dodger Stadium with his mother in late June when he learned of the conspiracy theory about him that was unfolding on social media. When he saw that his home address had been leaked on the internet, he decided that it was unsafe for them to stay home, and they spent the night elsewhere.
Listen to That Jewish News Show, a smart and thoughtful look at the week in Jewish news from the journalists at the Forward, now available on Apple and Spotify:
Brody was nowhere near a Pride Month festival in Oregon City, Oregon, on June 25, when one party to a fight among right-wing protesters took a video, a snippet of which was spun into the conspiracy theory that would entangle Brody — and, as it made news in July, raise more questions about Musk’s conduct as CEO of Twitter.
At the festival, two members of the Rose City Nationalists, a group associated with a fitness-focused neo-Nazi cohort, were captured on camera with their masks pulled down during a scuffle with the local chapter of the Proud Boys.
Right-wing trolls incorrectly identified one of the men as Brody, a recent UC Riverside graduate. After searching his Jewish fraternity’s social media pages, the trolls discovered that Brody had previously expressed interest in working for the government, and began to suggest online that he was a “fed” planted to undermine their cause.
Musk, who has drawn criticism since taking over the embattled platform for loosening its hate speech restrictions, drew further attention to the false accusations against Brody by joining the online conversation in a reply to an article by the right-wing site Zero Hedge about the incident.
“Looks like one” of the unmasked men “is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation,” Musk tweeted, garnering 1.2 million views.
Musk has 148 million Twitter followers.
Critics have accused Musk of enabling antisemitic behavior on Twitter, which is currently facing challenges in court over its failure to remove hate speech.
Though Zero Hedge has since removed their accusations in the article and deleted the tweet to which Musk replied, his tweet is still on the platform.
“Elon Musk has a huge following and it amplifies stuff, so it definitely made the situation much worse,” Brody said to Vice.
Though glad that the unwarranted attention has since fizzled, Brody is considering legal action, and is concerned about the possible ramifications of the ordeal.
“I’m more than willing to explain the situation and stuff like that, but just having that label up itself is very hard for employers,” said Brody to Vice, referring to his name’s association with hate groups. “That is just like a lot to deal with.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
