Politics

TikTokers attempt to crash Texas anti-abortion whistleblower website by sending them false tips, memes, and porn

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After Texas Right to Life urged citizens to submit anonymous tips on its website to help enforce the state’s new anti-abortion law, pro-abortion TikTok and Reddit users flooded the organization’s website with pornographic images, memes, and false tips.

The effort to troll the anti-abortion group was led by Gen Zers Victoria Hammett and Olivia Julianna, who were both outraged at the recent legislation, which forbids abortions once a babies heartbeat is detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy. The law also allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or those helped someone get an abortion after the six-week limit for at least $10,000 per defendant.

Many TikTok users, according to Hammett, have deliberately sent fake information to the website, including tips with titles like “Greg Abbott farts” or “calls to abort Ted Cruz.” Some have sent pornographic images of Shrek, while others have reported excerpts from the 2007 film, “Bee Movie,” or Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” series.

TikToker Sean Black, 20, who asked NBC News not to use his real name, said he used his own software engineering expertise to “[spam] the website with fake submissions.” He said that “once the bot is downloaded, it will automatically open the website, fill out the form with fake data that makes it look like you’re in Texas, submit it and then re-submit it, again and again.”

Last year, Gen Zers TikTokers launched a similar campaign by flooding websites and apps that were collecting crime tips with K-pop fan videos. However, the current attempt to crash the anti-abortion website seems to be unsuccessful.

Kim Schwartz, the director of media and communication at Texas Right for Life, told NBC News that the organization has not experienced any issues with the website so far. “People who have been saying it crashed are confused,” she said in an email Thursday. “If people can’t access it, it’s because they’re blocked. People who have been reporting fake tips get their IPs blocked.”

Schwartz said they predicted the trolling and had already implemented safeguards on the website. If people want to submit additional fake tips, Schwartz said they can use the organization’s new site, ProChoiceTrolls.com, which links to a video of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” — a practice known as “Rick Rolling.”

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE
PHOTO CREDITS: YAHOO NEWS

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