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The man who killed 49 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, described the attack as a true escalation of the meme-based Internet culture.
Police are currently investigating a very large 74-page manifesto according to which the 28-year-old suspect allegedly wrote and published on social media shortly before the attack.
This document denounces Muslims and immigrants and includes several references to memes and video games.
The alleged gunman issued the manifesto, as well as a link to the next live broadcast of the promised attack, the 8chan, one of the leading online hotbeds of right-wing extremists the same.
In his post, he wrote that it was "time to stop posting messages to make a real effort of life" – meaning, roughly, that it was time to get out of there. stop playing on the Internet and turn your extremist ideas into real acts.
Then, just before the start of the attack – which he broadcast live on Facebook as if it was a first person shooter – he stopped tuning supporting a YouTube star in a video that seemed to capture the shoot.
"Remember, boys, subscribe to PewDiePie," he said.
To an untrained eye, it would have seemed like a weird detour.
But those who viewed the video stream recognized it as something quite different: a meme.
With 89 million subscribers and a decade of history on the platform, PewDiePie (real name Felix Kjellberg) plays games, creates videos on Tik Tok compilations and discusses memes.
He participated in a race with T-Series, an Indian production company that downloads clips from Bollywood movies to see who can have the most subscribers to the platform.
"Subscribe to pewdiepie" became a rallying cry for his fans and quickly spread to the Web and beyond, to show its fluidity with even Culture.
Like many things that happened before the attack on Friday – as the display of a 74-page manifesto naming a specific Internet figure – the PewDiePie endorsement had two goals.
For followers of the murderer's video, it was a kind of satirical Easter egg.
"Subscribe to PewDiePie", which started with a popular online attempt to prevent the popular YouTube artist from being dethroned as the most tracked account of the site, has turned into some kind of signal all-purpose cultural bat for young people and absorbed by the Internet.
For all the others, it was a trap, a joke designed to get unsuspecting people and members of the media to take it too literally.
if there was one, may have We have prompted a popular Internet personality to take the blame and stir up political tensions all over the world.
In a tweet early Friday morning, PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, said, "I feel absolutely disgusted to see my name spoken by this person. "
I have just heard of the devastating reports of Christchurch in New Zealand
I am completely disgusted to see my name pronounced by this person.
My heart and my thoughts go to the victims, to families and to everyone affected by this tragedy– ƿ9ω ძɿ9 ƿɿ9 (@pewdiepie) March 15, 2019
It is true that Kjellberg wooed the controversy by making anti-Semitic gestures, He calls satirical, in his videos.
He flirts openly with Nazi symbolism and has already used the word "n" in a livestream.
But other killers like JackSepticEye, Markiplier and Elvis the Alien were quick to defend Pewds.
Sorry to see your name attached to so much horrible.
– Jacksepticeye (@Jack_Septic_Eye) 15 March 2019
You have nothing to do with this Complete stop
L The shooter, who should be forgotten until the end of the story, is only looking to create a division. Anyone who believes or spreads the message that you have been badociated with this action does exactly what the shooter wants.
– Markiplier (@markiplier) March 15, 2019
Anyone with a functioning brain knows you
– Elvis The Alien (@ElvisThealienTV) March 15, 2019
Although Kjellberg is far from being a saint, his allies say to condemn him and his followers are just pushing his fans are even further away from the middle and extremist thinking.
The danger of online radicalization of disaffected young men has been widely reported, and the terrorist's goal not only to reach PewDiePie's fans, but also to blame them and hold them accountable [19659003Thechoicestheshootermade-topublishamanifestoinaknownradicalcommunityandcarryouttheattackashedid"forthelulz"-wereprobablyintendedtoentertainhibadtremistcolleaguesandaboveofalltohelpthemseehimbadomeonetoadmireandeventocopy
The attack was teased on Twitter, announced on the 8chan online bulletin board and broadcast live on Facebook.
The film was then replayed forever on YouTube, Twitter and Reddit, while the platforms were eager to remove the clips almost as fast as new copies came out to replace them.
Even the language used to describe the attack before qualifying it as an act of activism on the Internet. In an 8chan article, the shooting was described as "work in real life".
An image entitled "See your optics" is a reference to a line posted by the accused man in the Pittsburgh Synagogue later became a sort of slogan among neo-Nazis.
And the manifesto – a verbose mix of white nationalist blanket, fascist statements and references to obscure jokes on the Internet – seems to have been written at the bottom of an algorithmic rabbit hole. 19659003] M recent acts of violence offline bear the imprint of the Internet.
We know that the design of internet platforms can create and reinforce extremist beliefs.
However, it would be unfair to blame the Internet for this mbad shooting.
are complex, lives are complicated and we do not yet know all the details.
Anti-Muslim violence is not an online phenomenon, and white nationalist hatred predates 4Chan and Reddit.
In many ways, calls banning PewDiePie from YouTube, in response to this mbad murder designed for the world of social networks, proves the killer's point. 19659003]
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