How one Twitter joke sent the alt-right into a chaotic frenzy

An apparent internet joke about a violent anti-fascist uprising has sent members of the alt-right into a frenzy.

Multiple outlets have reported that left wing activists, including the group Antifa, are allegedly planning to commence a series of violent acts on 4 November.

​In recent weeks, networks such as FOX News, The Gateway Pundit, Infowarsand The Patriot Conservativehave all reported stories of a focused effort to 'overthrow the Trump regime' this Saturday - but the source of this information remains contentious.

These stories have been circulating around certain parts of the internet since late September, when the Antifa group were reportedly classified as "domestic terrorists" in confidential leaked documents seen by Politico. The Independent reports that the Department of Homeland Security has allegedly been warning about the growing threat of violence between left and right-wing protestors since 2016.

The Guardian report that the 4 November events are unlikely to take place, as no antifascists are due to protest on the day - just a number of small leftist groups.

In recent days though the situation appears to have escalated further, following a now deleted tongue-in-cheek joke tweet from satirical Twitter user Krang T Nelson.

Picture: Twitter/ Krang T Nelson

After a torrent of reaction to the initial tweet Krang spoke to Micabout satirical comedy,but his words still appear to have been misinterpreted by FOX.

Krang's account was reportedly temporarily suspended by Twitter, which led to other users reposting his joke in protest.

One such user was Tom Bloke, whose tweet was included in the aforementioned Gateway Pundit article. Then things really started to get out of hand.

Alt-right members and right-wing Twitter users then started to tweet about 4 November.

As the hysteria blew up in the right-wing areas of Twitter, the left found a perfect excuse to make a joke out of the situation.

Krang has since written for Viceabout what happened and explained it was a joke that escalated really quickly, they also reflected:

The last time a bunch of white supremacists were tricked into believing something like this, a mob of them showed up at a confederate graveyard to fight the nonexistent Antifa threat, and one guy ended up accidentally shooting himself in the leg.

HT Mic

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