RantCrush Top 5: April 20, 2017

Tanya Gersh is a Jewish resident of Whitefish, Montana and became a target of online harassment after an article was published by Andrew Anglin on his neo-Nazi website, the Daily Stormer. The article focused on a dispute between the city of Whitefish and the alt-right figure Richard Spencer. Spencer’s mother lives in the town, and Anglin’s article claimed that Gersh harassed her. Anglin encouraged his readers to start a “troll storm” against Gersh.

Neo-Nazi website unleashed Internet trolls against a Jewish woman, lawsuit says https://t.co/huoSO6hniA pic.twitter.com/HHRtbop9Vt

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) April 19, 2017

The SPLC will represent Gersh in a lawsuit that includes examples of the over 700 anti-Semitic messages that she and her family received; one was a photoshopped picture of her 12-year-old son being run over by Nazi trucks. Some trolls spread false allegations about her to her colleagues and some threatened to kill her. It went so far that the family kept packed bags in their home in case they had to flee. According to law professor Danielle Citron, it’s an incredibly important lawsuit as digital harassment is a fairly new phenomenon, but she believes that the sheer number of messages will work in Gersh’s favor.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.