Revealed: Startup Creates Streaming Platform for Extremists on Big-Tech Infrastructure
A Canadian technology startup 鈥� which already provides monetized streaming for a range of white power propagandists, hate group leaders and a wanted fugitive 鈥� has now created a custom-made platform for white nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes after a payment processor apparently forced him off their main platform.
And Hatewatch can reveal that Chthonic Software, whose principals have recently decamped from Calgary, Alberta, to Turkey, has so far been able to run their Entropy platform using infrastructure provided by Microsoft鈥檚 Azure cloud platform.
Chthonic, which incorporated in Alberta in 2018, launched Entropy in 2019 as a video livestreaming service allowing creators to collect payments from their viewers.
They have actively promoted the site as a 鈥渇ree speech鈥� alternative to mainstream social media services 鈥� repeating the pitch used by other extremist-friendly 鈥渁lt-tech鈥� platforms including Bitchute, Gab听补苍诲 Parler.
Like those sites, Chthonic鈥檚 promise of limited moderation has attracted prominent extremists, some of whom were deplatformed from mainstream sites in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., or earlier.
In a December podcast, Greg Johnson, who runs the white nationalist website and publisher Counter-Currents, said, 鈥淓ntropystream is the only way we can take credit card payments.鈥�
Johnson added, 鈥淲e have been deplatformed from the global credit card processing industry by angry merchants, unhappy merchants, who don鈥檛 like our message,鈥� using coded antisemitic terms familiar to observers of white nationalist groups.
There are some indications that Chthonic has been specifically courting this niche of deplatformed extremists.
A tweet from their official 鈥淍EntropyDevs鈥� Twitter account on July 10, 2020, promoted a livestream with white nationalist comedian Owen Benjamin, with the promise of a 鈥渃ensorship free interaction.鈥�
A separate tweet on March 12, 2020, reminded followers that they could send paid 鈥渙ffline super chats鈥� to French-Canadian white nationalist Jean-Francois Gariepy in advance of his stream later that evening.
And on Jan. 28, 2020, a tweet featuring a screenshot of white nationalist Nick Fuentes streaming in the Entropy app was captioned, 鈥淲hile corporate media is closing down comment sections and streaming platforms step up their censorship efforts, @NickJFuentes has still found a way to offer you censorship free interaction. Join him, LIVE NOW in Entropy.鈥�
Fuentes鈥檚 Twitter account has since been banned, and while he was for a time using Entropy to collect payments from devotees to his white nationalist 鈥淎merica First鈥� media brand, as of late last month he could no longer be found on the site.
On Nov. 29, Fuentes told the viewers of his nightly stream that he could no longer use Chthonic鈥檚 flagship platform to collect payments.
鈥淓ntropy is not going to work anymore 鈥� because I was banned,鈥� Fuentes said, explaining that 鈥渢heir payment processor forced them to ban me, by name.鈥�
Fuentes continued, 鈥淭heir payment processor called them up, at Entropy, and said, 鈥業f you don鈥檛 ban Nick Fuentes, we鈥檙e going to deplatform your whole site.鈥欌��
But in the same stream Fuentes said a solution had been found.
鈥淲e have a new superchat system,鈥� Fuentes said, referring to a convention in streaming services whereby users make donations and streamers in return prioritize reading and interacting with those users鈥� questions and comments.
鈥淪uperchats are back,鈥� Fuentes added, without elaborating on how this had been accomplished. 鈥淭he link is in the description of this stream.鈥�
Days before, Chthonic鈥檚 co-founder, director and CEO, Emmanuel Constantinidis, had offered an explanation to Entropy users.
After he was asked on Entropy's Discord chat server whether Fuentes had been banned from the service, Constantinidis wrote, 鈥淵es, but we built him a replacement."
Constantinidis continued, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a complicated story, but sufficed to say we won't leave anyone out to dry.鈥�
On the Nov. 29 broadcast, Fuentes went on to announce that future superchat-style payments would be handled by a new site, Streampayments.
The URL for that new site was registered on Nov. 17, according to DNS records.
Users who register for the Streampayments site receive an email with the subject line 鈥淪treampay Account Verification鈥� from 鈥�rachel@entropystream.live,鈥� an email address linked to the URL of the original site from which Fuentes was removed, apparently belonging to co-founder Rachel Constantinidis, who is also Emmanuel鈥檚 wife.
Hatewatch reviewed source code for the Streampayments site and confirmed that it contained payment processing routines for both Entropy and Streampayments.
From source code and a payment receipt obtained by Hatewatch, it is evident that Stripe is currently the main payment processor for Entropy users.
In a discussion on Chthonic鈥檚 discord server, Rachel Constantinidis stated that Google Pay鈥檚 tools were used to encrypt customer credit card information.
Far-right streamers can earn tens of thousands of dollars per month from audience donations, as Hatewatch has previously reported.
And according to their own Chthonic pockets 15% of the money streamers bring in on Entropy.
The company has also sought other revenue streams, however. In a fundraising plea posted to subscription fundraising site Subscribestar, Entropy asked for $2,937 to 鈥渃over our basic costs so that we can continue building a censorship free internet and producing useful and interesting content as we bring you along on our journey.鈥�
By October, this effort had netted the company only three patrons, two at the $5 per month level and one pledging $10 per month. By December, Entropy鈥檚 Subscribestar page had been deleted.
DNS records for both Entropy and Streampayments reveal that both of their sites are reliant on the infrastructure Microsoft鈥檚 Azure cloud platform provides.
Azure supplies hosting, software, platform and infrastructure services to website creators and administrators via the technology giant鈥檚 global network of data centers.
Notably, Azure鈥檚 ready-made tools make it easier for inexperienced developers to create websites with sophisticated features such as livestreaming that require high storage and bandwidth.
Emily Laidlaw is Canada research chair in cybersecurity law at the University of Calgary, where her research focuses on online abuse, free speech and law reform.
In a telephone conversation, she said that while Canada is 鈥渋n the middle of law reforms鈥� around online hate speech, currently 鈥渢here is no intermediary liability鈥� when it comes to hate speech.
鈥淚f the platform is acting as as an intermediary, there is no specific law to address its liability for hate speech,鈥� Laidlaw continued.
鈥淭he question is whether a court would view the platform here as communicating hate speech 鈥� essentially not in the capacity of an intermediary 鈥� and thus can bring charges under the criminal code.鈥�
Her colleague at Calgary, associate professor Michael Nesbitt, is an expert on the intersection between law, national security and terrorism.
In a separate telephone conversation, Nesbitt pointed to the Canadian government鈥檚 recent proscription of several far-right actors as 鈥渢errorist entities,鈥� including The Base , Atomwaffen Division , the Proud Boys听补苍诲 James Mason.
He said that these proscriptions explicitly criminalized offering support 鈥� including monetary support 鈥� to such groups, but that the underlying law did not require an entity to be listed for prosecutions over support for terrorist acts.
He added that while 鈥渨e haven鈥檛 seen a case where a website host has been held responsible鈥� for providing support to such entities or acts, the obligations the laws put on financial institutions meant that they may cut off anyone proximate to extremism from an abundance of caution.
Hatewatch contacted Microsoft, stripe and Chthonic founder and CEO Emmanuel Constantinidis with detailed requests for comment on their relationships. None immediately responded.
Fuentes is not the only extremist who utilizes the platforms Chthonic has built on top of Microsoft鈥檚 foundations.
Prominent white nationalists streaming and collecting payments on the site include:
- Failed comedian and would-be compound builder Owen Benjamin.
- Longtime white nationalist propagandist Greg Johnson, who has a page under his Counter-Currents brand.
- Patrick Casey, leader of the white nationalist American Identity Movement聽(formerly Identity Evropa).
- Robert Ray aka 鈥淎zzmador,鈥� a neo-Nazi fugitive聽wanted for his role in the deadly 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
- British neo-Nazi and conspiracy theorist Mark Collett.
- Matt Parrott, co-founder of the now-defunct Traditionalist Worker Party.
- White nationalist talk show Red Ice TV.
In addition to these, Hatewatch鈥檚 analysis revealed at least 30 more monetized extremist accounts on Entropy.
According to a long post from Emmanuel Constantinidis on Entropy鈥檚 Discord server on May 13, Chthonic appears to be deliberately attempting to create a platform that will accommodate white supremacist ideologues.
He also criticized rival alt-tech services such as Odysee and DLive for implementing bans on hate speech, saying that it would lead to the 鈥渃ensorship of legitimate dissident opinions.鈥�
In the post, he told users, 鈥淲e have been working at decoupling Entropy from services we view as at risk from politically motivated targetting,鈥� adding that 鈥渢his means fortifying our payments systems, servers, and mail system from attempts at deplatforming.鈥�
According to documents obtained from Alberta鈥檚 provincial government, Chthonic was incorporated on Jan. 25, 2018, by Emmanuel and Rachel Constantinidis, who at that time both resided in Calgary.
At some point between that date and Hatewatch鈥檚 records search on Dec. 1, David Bell, also listed as a Calgary resident, was added as a director, with each of the three shown as owning 33.333% of voting shares in the company.
While they are still listed as Alberta residents, YouTube videos reviewed by Hatewatch indicate that the trio, along with Bell鈥檚 wife, have moved to Antalya, Turkey.
Photo illustration by 澳彩开奖 (L-R:聽Robert Ray aka "Azzmador," photo by Abdul Aziz; Nick Fuentes, photo by Getty Images; Owen Benjamin, photo from Wikipedia)
