White Nationalist Group Posed as VICE Reporters While Identifying D.C. Protesters
The white nationalist non-profit VDARE聽hosted a livestream Tuesday in Washington, D.C., in which the group lied to antiracist demonstrators, saying they were reporters with 鈥淰ICE Canada,鈥� before urging them to say and spell out their names.
VDARE鈥檚 efforts to broadcast the names and faces of individual protesters who attended the demonstration comes on the heels of President Trump鈥檚 promises to designate antifa protesters as terrorists. Antifa is a loosely defined term used to depict a style of left-wing protest. 聽is the Canadian edition of the news and culture website of the same name.
鈥淪ir, would you like to say a few words? We鈥檙e VICE Canada,鈥� the host of VDARE鈥檚 stream said to one demonstrator, as an example of the approach the group used to contact protesters.
The early afternoon livestream was hosted by two VDARE activists at the National Mall, where demonstrators gathered to protest police violence, racism and the Trump administration. VDARE has since removed the video, but Hatewatch viewed it live and documented it. Hatewatch was unable to immediately identify the VDARE activists who operated the stream. VDARE鈥檚 founder is Peter Brimelow. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Said a spokesperson for VICE Media Group: 鈥淭his livestream video is in no way affiliated with VICE Media Group. Any claim by individuals in the video that they represent VICE is false. We strongly condemn any such deception, especially in an environment where accurate and objective reporting is so important.
White nationalists have attempted similar forms of deception in response to the widespread antiracist demonstrations and civil unrest that have swept across the U.S. since the killing of George Floyd. The white nationalist group Identity Evropa (renamed American Identity Movement)聽posed as 鈥渁ntifa鈥� on Twitter Sunday, urging protesters to 鈥渕ove into the residential areas鈥� the white hoods鈥� and take what鈥檚 ours,鈥� a spokesperson for that website .
VDARE鈥檚 viewers on YouTube questioned the legality of what VDARE did as it happened. 鈥淚鈥檓 sending a copy of this to VICE Canada so they can sue you for doxxing [sic] protesters in their name,鈥� a commenter with the pseudonym 聽wrote. Doxing refers to the act of publishing private information about people online.
Hatewatch tracked down one of the protesters who unwittingly gave her name to VDARE鈥檚 audience. Dawn Eden Goldstein, a D.C.-based theologian, told Hatewatch a man and woman approached her, claiming to represent VICE Canada. She said the pair then asked her why she supported the protests and if she had a statement for 鈥淢r. Trump.鈥� Goldstein told Hatewatch she would not have voluntarily given out her identity to an audience that likely included far-right extremists.
鈥淭he press and freedom of the press is something that鈥檚 sacrosanct in any democracy, particularly it is sacrosanct in the United States. What these people did in posing as the media that they weren鈥檛 鈥� it harms the very cause of truth itself. It harms people鈥檚 trust in the media,鈥� Goldstein said.
Founded in 1999, VDARE鈥檚 influence has risen under Trump鈥檚 presidency. Hatewatch previously reported聽that White House senior adviser Stephen Miller forwarded VDARE鈥檚 content to Breitbart News in 2015 in an effort to shape their reporting on the subject of non-white immigration into the U.S. Miller, along with white nationalist Richard Spencer, invited VDARE founder Peter Brimelow to speak at Duke University in 2007, while Miller was a student there. In August, the Department of Justice, under the stewardship of Bill Barr, forwarded a link to a VDARE post that included 鈥渁ntisemitic attacks鈥� on immigration judges in the DOJ morning news briefing, .
VDARE has been accused of deliberately deceiving people before this incident. Facebook 聽in May after uncovering fake accounts and 鈥渃oordinated inauthentic behavior鈥� in a network of pages linked to their group.
