We know, you really thought it was real. We did too.
The internet exploded earlier today once an anonymous tip landed in PasteBin, listing supposed ties between 9 government officials and the KKK, a white supremacist organization historically responsible for the murder, terrorism and systematic oppression of many American citizens based on race, religion, and sexual orientation. Tons of trigger fingers turned to twitter fingers earlier today, urging several known conservative leaders to take their #HoodsOff and face the music.
Hold your horses, it was fake.
Anonymous, a hacktivist group who have stood opposed and determined to fight against issues like Sandra Bland’s death ruling, police brutality, and even scientology, claims they were not the anonymous hands behind the list of 1000.
Turns out the dudes behind this anonymous claim just had (sorta impressive) educated guesses. US Senators on the list included Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Cornyn (R-TX.), Dan Coats (R-IN) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA). Many took the list quickly as fact and holy grail, posting all over Facebook timelines and Twitter dashboards. Anonymous (the actual folks) claims the real list will be in our hands on November 5th.
Anonymous opposed the list in a series of tweets:
The pastebin links sent to us regarding #OpKKK were sent to us by Anonymous individuals. The actual release for Operation KKK will be 5 Nov.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) November 2, 2015
The twitter account that released the pastebin with the government officials that are clearly not KKK is https://t.co/G9cdjw4hfK — Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) November 2, 2015
For any information about #OpKKK we will refer to the official .@Operation_KKK twitter account
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) November 2, 2015
Photo Credit: John Moore, GETTY
