The FCC’s ejection of three protesters from Thursday’s...
The FCC’s ejection of three protesters from Thursday’s open meeting has sparked calls for violence against Chairman Tom Wheeler, in Internet comments posted on YouTube and Reddit. The hacker group Anonymous tweeted to its 1.24 million followers a link to…
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video of the protesters (http://bit.ly/1gOxrvK). “Make it viral!” Anonymous wrote. As of press time Friday the video had been viewed over 130,000 times. Dozens of commenters have urged violence against Wheeler and the other commissioners. “Kill Tom Wheeler,” wrote one commenter on Reddit. “It’s not like he has secret service around him or anything like that.” A YouTube comment -- “I'll smirk if someone puts a bullet in his head” -- was thumbs-upped 142 times. Multiple commenters encouraged protesters to shoot, bomb or -- in one case -- “toast” the commissioners with a flame thrower. Senior Counsel Gigi Sohn tweeted Thursday (http://bit.ly/1k9m5qB) that the “armed guards” who were removing the protesters “protect me and my FCC colleagues every day. Many thanks for the work they do.” An FCC spokesman, who was unaware of the threats until a reporter brought them to his attention, declined to comment on whether security would be increased.