Apple and Google remove Wimkin app, founder reports massive DDoS attack

• Apple and Google have both removed Wimkin, a free expression social network, from their app stores, as the Wall Street Journal first reported.
• On its website, Wimkin posted a notice saying a “massive DDOS attack attempt took place” after the removals.
• At least one group in the network had repeatedly called for the formation of an armed militia in Washington during the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
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Wimkin, a free speech social media network, said it was hit by a “massive” hacker attack after Apple and Google pulled its app from their stores.

Wimkin was removed from Apple’s App Store on Tuesday for failing to moderate violent content, including some users calling for civil war, as the Wall Street Journal first reported. Google planned to remove the app early Friday morning, according to Wimkin.

On its website, Wimkin posted a notice, saying “a massive DDOS attack attempt occurred” after the cuts were announced. Over the past week, additional DDOS attacks have disrupted the network and disabled the Wimkin app, the company said in a Facebook post.

“We are putting the site in maintenance mode while we fight this kind of problem. Please recheck shortly. We will let you know when you are back online. Thank you for your patience and support. Thank you,” Wimkin said on his website.

With around 300,000 users, Wimkin is relatively small. Its design mimics Facebook pages and posts. Its founder Jason Sheppard said on LinkedIn that his network “does not censor its users for anything other than criminal activity and allows free speech without fact checking.”

Last week, Apple and Google both shut down Parler, a larger free speech social network. As violent crowds ransacked the halls of Congress on Wednesday, a chorus of Talking users called for violence. Talking went offline on Sunday night as Amazon pulled him out of its web hosting service.

Read more: Talking should be taken seriously as a hotbed of extremism and conspiracy theories, new study finds

Parler and Wimkin said they were committed to free speech. They had hosted users who had been removed from Twitter or Facebook for supporting QAnon, using violent rhetoric or other policy violations. Talking had been the best download on the App Store before it was deleted last week.

In recent months, Wimkin users have been posting articles about the March on Washington in January. At least one group in the network had repeatedly called for the formation of an armed militia in Washington during the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

“Millions of American militiamen will assemble in Washington DC on January 20, 2021, in an attempt to prevent any attempt by traitorous domestic enemy Joe Biden, or any member of the Communist Organized Crime Organization known as Democratic Party name, to enter the The White House owned by We The People, ”a post on one group’s page said, as captured by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Some posts and users who incited the violence were removed after Apple notified the app, Sheppard told the Wall Street Journal.

Apple said it received complaints that Wimkin was “being used to plan and facilitate illegal and dangerous activity on January 20,” according to Wimkin, who posted his conversation with Apple on his Facebook page.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment. “We have determined that Wimkin has not implemented sufficient user-generated content precautions to protect user health and safety,” said an App Store representative, according to Wimkin.