You might not have heard of a far-right site called Poast. A hack reveals what's happening
This story has been updated to correct the description of a message sent by Poast founder Daniel Stevens.
An administrator of a website that has become a haven for racist, antisemitic and misogynist posting also has close ties to Truth Social, the social media site founded by former President Donald Trump, according to a report published Thursday. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled a first-of-its kind national strategy to counter antisemitism. And looking back at the trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced last week.
It's the week in extremism.
Hack of far-right site reveals ties to Trump
More: Hack exposes law enforcement officers who signed up to join anti-government Oath Keepers
You may have never heard of Poast before. The two-year-old site is not widely known outside of extremist circles and the researchers who study racist, homophobic and antisemitic communities online. But the site, which has about 30,000 users, has become a refuge for some of the most hateful communities on the internet, according to reports in the Daily Dot. Poast was recently hacked, and from that hack, a reporter at the Daily Dot discovered one of the site's administrators has close ties to Truth Social.
A quick perusal of the usernames of Poast users shows dozens of people using racial slurs and racist terms as their online personas. A USA TODAY review of direct messages allegedly hacked from the site found users engaged in harassment including doxxing and swatting, as well as discussing white supremacist ideas and using racist terminology.
"The content on Poast is akin to that which you’ll find on Kiwi Farms and other far-right havens, such as 4chan," the Daily Dot reported. "Data from the purported breach shows that over a dozen users used the N-word in their handles. Other figures and terms popular among the far-right are also commonly used in screen names, including racial slurs, Nazis’ names, and terms like 'based' and 'Groyper.'"
On Thursday, the Daily Dot reported that an administrator for Poast, Alex Gleason, is head of engineering for Truth Social, Trump's social media site.
The story also notes that Poast founder Daniel Stevens claimed in a direct message much of the coding for Truth Social originally came from Poast: "Trump’s Truth Social is built on Mastodon but [is] using the front end built directly on Poast,” Stevens wrote, according to the report.
The Daily Dot said Poast did not reply to a request for comment. Gleason sent them a reply, they reported, in which he claims "Poast bans doxxing."
New National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism
More: White House announces national strategy to combat antisemitism
More: 2021 saw highest-ever number of incidents targeting Jewish Americans: Report
Late last week, President Biden and Vice-President Harris rather quietly announced a first-of-its kind initiative: The National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. The effort intends to accomplish more than 100 new "actions" within a year, including launching new educational programs, opening a Holocaust education research center and requiring federal agencies to incorporate information about antisemitic bias and discrimination into their training.
The effort comes at a time when antisemitic attacks and propaganda are spiking. A survey released earlier this year by the Anti-Defamation League found that belief in antisemitic conspiracy theories has doubled since 2019. The ADL also found there were 3,697 antisemitic incidents recorded in 2022, a 36% increase compared with 2021's record figures and the highest number since the ADL started keeping such statistics in 1979.
"The past several years, hate has been given too much oxygen, fueling a rapid rise in antisemitism. It’s simply wrong," Biden said during a virtual event from the White House. "It’s on all of us to stop it,"
The strategy consists of four pillars: Increasing awareness and understanding of antisemitism; improving safety and security in Jewish communities; reversing the normalizing of antisemitism; and building solidarity across communities.
My colleague Terry Collins reported on the new effort this week.
Stewart Rhodes goes to prison, blames Proud Boys
More: Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison for Jan. 6 Capitol attack
More: Vegas parking valet, Yale law graduate, unhinged Oath Keepers leader: Who is Stewart Rhodes?
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the anti-government extremist group the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in prison late last week, the harshest sentence yet delivered to a participant in the Jan. 6 insurrection. In a 20-minute speech at his sentencing, Rhodes compared himself to Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and blamed others in the far-right extremist milieu for his downfall.
Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes in November after a lengthy trial.
Rhodes' self-aggrandizement was quickly shot down by Judge Amit Mehta: "You are not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes," Mehta chastened.
Rhodes also sought to distance himself from the extremist street gang the Proud Boys, members of which were also found guilty of seditious conspiracy earlier this year: “Unlike other groups like the Proud Boys who seek conflict and seek to street fight, we deter,” he said in court.
I profiled Rhodes, a graduate of Yale Law School and former Las Vegas parking valet, in this story last year.
Statistic of the week: 32/100
More: A drag show, a protest and a line of guns: How the battle over one issue is tearing at America
More: Lawmakers targeting drag shows with 14 bills across U.S., analysis finds
That's how much the State of Arkansas scored in the 2023 Out Leadership State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index, which judges states on five areas including work environment and support for young people and families.
The index, which USA TODAY reported on exclusively on Thursday, named New York as the most equitable state for LGBTQ+ people for the third year in a row, with a score of 93.67 out of 100 points.
But for the second year running, there was an increase in the number of states that are not accepting of the LGBTQ+ community. Most states lost points because of the introduction of legislation hostile to LGBTQ+ people.
LGBTQ-related issues have become the primary focus of the extremist far-right, with extremists showing up at school boards, drag queen shows and state legislatures to show their opposition to equality.
Catch up: Last week in extremism
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hack of Poast; White House takes on antisemitism; Oath Keeper to prison
