Online ‘sedition hunters’ search for remaining US Capitol rioters, new report claims

<p>Crowds pictured breaking into the US Capitol on January 6. A new report claims that online vigilante groups are searching for remaining suspects</p> (AP)

Crowds pictured breaking into the US Capitol on January 6. A new report claims that online vigilante groups are searching for remaining suspects

(AP)

Online vigilante “sedition hunters” are reportedly tracking down suspected Capitol rioters not yet arrested or charged by authorities.

More than 400 people have been arrested and charged over their alleged involvement in the attack in Washington DC on 6 January that left five people dead.

But the FBI’s most wanted page still features photos of hundreds more people wanted in connection with the event.

Now groups of “amateur internet sleuths” are reportedly turning the search for the outstanding participants into the “ultimate online manhunt”, according to Bloomberg.

One man, Chris Sigurdson, 58, an out-of-work actor in Canada, said that he spent 40-hours a week poring over photos and videos on social media, eventually leading to the FBI’s arrest and charging of Daniel Ray Caldwell of The Colony, Texas, with his tweets cited in the affidavit.

Another man reportedly built a facial recognition website, leading to the arrest of one man, whilst websites are popping up aggregating social media “evidence” including seditionhunters.org and jan6evidence.com.

For Mr Sigurdson, his interest was one of fascination.

He said: “I don’t think anger would’ve sustained me through this whole process. It’s more of a deep quest for comprehension.”

Whereas for Forrest Rogers, a German-American business consultant who helps run a sedition-hunting group called Deep State Dogs, it’s about morality.

He said: “We want these people brought to justice. And we don’t want a random sampling of them, a token group.”

Bloomberg claimed that following the riots the FBI saw a 750 per cent increase in calls and electronic tips to their hotline in the immediate aftermath.

Samantha Shero, an FBI spokeswoman, said that the tips were helpful in “dozens of cases” and added: “The public has provided tremendous assistance to this investigation, and we are asking for continued help to identify other individuals.”

But the bureau has also raised concerns over how crowdsourcing by untrained, private individuals might lead to the identification of innocent people, including a retired firefighter in Chicago.

Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, told Bloomberg that the chance of accidental accusations of the innocent was high and said: “As soon as you put someone’s personal information out there, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. When you do it publicly, there’s just a lot more that can go wrong.”

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