Audio and chat records reveal that at least two rebels who broke into the Capitol on January 6 used Zello, a social media walkie-talkie app that critics say has ignored a growing base of far-right users.
“We are at the main summit now,” said a female militia, talking about Zello, her voice competing with the cacophony of a confrontation with Capitol police. “We are rocking. They are throwing grenades, they are shooting people with paintballs, but we are here. “
“God bless you and good luck. Go on, ”said a male voice in a quiet environment.
“Jess, do your shit,” said another. “That’s what we fucking live for. Everything we train for. “
The frantic exchange took place at 2:44 pm on a public Zello channel called “STOP THE STEAL J6”, where Trump supporters at home and in Washington DC discussed the riot as it unfolded. Dynamic group conversations like this exemplify why Zello, a smartphone and PC application, has become popular with militias, which have long fetishized military communication on analog radio.
After years of public pressure, Facebook, Twitter and Discord have begun to crack down on incitement to speech by far-right groups, but Zello has avoided proactive moderation of content until now.
Most of the coverage on Zello, which claims to have 150 million users on its free and premium platforms, has focused on its use by Cajun Navy groups that send boats to save victims of floods and popular organizations in Venezuela. However, the app is also home to hundreds of far-right channels, which appear to violate its policy of banning groups that espouse “violent ideologies”.
Responding to a list of more than 800 far-right channels, Zello said he was “prepared to act against them”. The company also said it is working on a more elaborate response. In addition to blocking some public resources that would help researchers discover more extremist content, Zello began expelling some far-right groups on Wednesday.
Two hours after the Guardian published this report, Zello announced that he had deleted more than 2,000 “channels associated with militias and other militarized social movements”.
“It is with deep sadness and anger that we discover evidence that Zello was misused by some individuals during the attack on the United States Capitol building last week,” the company wrote in a blog. “Looking ahead, we are concerned that Zello may be misused by groups that have threatened to organize other potentially violent protests and interrupt the US presidential inauguration festivities on January 20.”
The Zello user who described the Capitol building invasion appears to be Jessica Watkins, a 38-year-old bartender from Ohio, who admitted to participating in the insurrection. Watkins told the Ohio Capital Journal that she was the leader of a local militia called Ohio State Regular and a member of the national Oath Keepers militia.
The username of the Zello profile in question, “OhioRegularsActual – Oathkeeper”, corresponds to Watkins militia affiliations, referencing the Ohio State Regulars, Oath Keepers and their role as a militia leader by including “Actual” in their “ virtual radio call sign.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Oath Keepers are “one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the United States today”, claiming to have tens of thousands of current and former military and police in their ranks.
The user’s Zello messages also bear a strong resemblance to posts on Watkin’s Parler profile, according to our research: “Yes. We broke into the Capitol today. With tear gas, the whole, 9 ”, she wrote in Parler. “We made our way to the roundabout. It even reached the Senate. “
Watkins, who could not be reached for comment, told the Journal that he did not believe he had done anything wrong.
Parler closed this week after Amazon Web Services stopped hosting the platform because many of its users called for the uprising. The woman’s profile was one of thousands sent to the Wayback Machine, an Internet file, by a group of hackers after the violence in Washington DC.
“We have a good group: 30 to 40 of us. We are staying together and following the plan ”, the female voice is heard saying about Zello as they walk towards the Capitol. “The police are not doing anything. They’re not even trying to stop us. “
The Ohio Capital Journal also identified Watkins as one of a line of Oath Keepers making their way through the crowd on Capitol steps toward the building’s east entrance. She can be seen at the end of the line in a live broadcast of the deadly event using the battle rattle. Moments later, a torrent of pro-Trump rebels flooded the interior.
While she recounted her march towards the Capitol, others on the Zello channel applauded the insurrection and called for the kidnapping of politicians.
“You are executing the citizen’s arrest,” said “1% Watchdog,” the channel’s creator, evoking the viral image of a man carrying ties in the Senate Chamber. “We have a probable cause: treason, acts of treason, electoral fraud, all kinds of crimes, without competent authority,” he said, referring to allegations of electoral fraud promoted by Donald Trump and other Republican lawmakers, but repeatedly unmasked by journalists and the courts.
Preparation and encouragement
Records from several other far-right Zello channels show that the app was a platform to organize and feverishly incite the days leading up to the deadly turmoil.
Speaking of a password-protected channel called “DC 3.0”, a user called “AmericanRev2” described how Zello would fit into a communication plan with several applications: “As soon as we start up, this channel will only be for gathering and organizing information on the back … All information, once verified, will be placed on Telegram and then shared with the boots on the ground from there. “
The voice, username and profile picture of the announcer corresponds to other social media accounts used by Josh Ellis, the administrator of mymilitia.com, another focus of the far-right organization.
“DC 3.0” is one of five channels that were created specifically for the January 6 event. The organization also took place on channels that have been active for years, including one run by Security Force III%, a Georgia-based militia group.
“January 6, revolution or bust,” proclaimed Chris Hill on December 29. Hill, the group’s leader, has a long history of public preparedness for civil war.
Unlike sites like 4chan and Gab, forums where posters use irony and memes to overshadow violent calls for action, Zello audio messages can convey more complex and direct emotions. “How about if we all get the fuck up and get that shit back?” asked a militia member on January 4.
“I have a problem with fucking patriots who don’t grow a fucking nut and stand up and kick fucking bitches’ teeth. And shoot the motherfuckers’ fucking heads. “So, controlling himself, he tried to reverse the explosion.” I’m not talking about doing anything illegal … I want everyone to know that I love you … I just wanted to incite enthusiasm. “
Caravan for DC
Meanwhile, some Zello communities have dedicated their chat rooms to coordinate trips to the event in DC. A photo defined as the profile image of a password-protected channel called “The MAGA Cavalry” depicted meeting points in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and South Carolina for drivers to meet and travel together to the city.
Channels called “Maga drag” or “Maga caravan” exploded in popularity at Zello last year, thanks in part to Trump’s encouragement on Twitter.
On January 6, at least one member of The Maga Cavalry channel appears to have joined the Capitol invasion: “I was there, for a while inside, someone broke down the door and opened it,” said a man bypassing username “Q”, probably a reference to QAnon, the conspiracy theory group. “We had a right to be there. We pay for this house. It is our home. ”He described wandering aimlessly through the building’s corridors before the police used tear gas to expel the crowd.
Without further information about the user, the authors of this article were unable to verify their claims or identity. Another user, called ArmyVet365247, on The Maga Cavalry channel made public the incriminating clip of the man using the app’s sharing function, which automatically posts it to a feed on Zello’s website. The very low involvement in Q’s story suggests that making the message public may have been an accident.
A pattern of neglect
The revelation of Zello’s potential role in Capitol riots comes just three months after a joint investigation by On the Media and MilitiaWatch revealed that the company’s leadership has resisted calls to enforce its terms of service, which prohibit “violent extremist ideologies. “and remove the right groups and users from the app.
“Zello simply cannot actively monitor millions of simultaneous discussions,” the company told On the Media in October, responding to a list of more than 200 far-right channels, including those with names that clearly reference white supremacy and militia iconographies. .
The article referred to an email that was leaked to the entire company in June, during a national trial on institutional racism, in which a Zello employee proposed a new list of moderation practices to prevent future far-right activities on the app.
Zello ended up banning some groups and users “boogaloo” and totally white nationalists. The company allowed militia channels to remain active, but made them more difficult to find by deindexing them from search engines – a Google search for “Zello militia” no longer gives access to these groups – and blocking terms like “Oath Keeper ”in -app search function. The fact that some of these groups still use the platform to organize for the January 6 uprising suggests that these changes were inadequate.
“Zello was completely indifferent,” said Talia Lavin, an open critic of the platforms hosting the extremist speech and author of Culture Warlords. She led a campaign on Twitter in October to pressure the company to take more urgent action against Oath Keepers and other militias on the app. “They gave all indications that they don’t care about public opinion at all.”
The slow response may threaten the future of Zello, which has Amazon Web Services servers and access to Google and Apple app stores. By launching Parler from their platforms, the three companies demonstrated that they may not tolerate companies that host extremist content.
So far, this is not true for Zello.
This one the article is part of an ongoing reporting project by Micah Loewinger, reporter / producer for WNYC Studios On the Media and Hampton Stall, founder of MilitiaWatch.