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Frogtwitter is a network of loosely-connected pseudonymousX accounts characterized by promoting dissident ideas and policies associated with thealt-right[1] that formed around writer and online personalityCostin Alamariu.[2]
The name itself is likely to have derived from either thePepe the Frog meme[3][4] or fromAristophanes' comedyThe Frogs, as speculated by Josh Vandiver.[5] There was a wave ofTwitter suspensions for Frogtwitter members in early 2017,[6] followed by a one-off art exhibition inDalston (a neighborhood of London) open until that May.[7]
Definitions and descriptions of Frogtwitter vary depending by source and perspective.BuzzFeed simply refers to it as "Alt Right on Twitter."[3] Jacob Siegel, writing forThe Baffler, calls it a group "with a similar blend ofreactionary and post-libertarian thinking"[8] toCody Wilson. Siegel also interviewed a member of Frogtwitter, who states, "a lot of it is just having fun with words on the internet... intellectualizing while wanting to communicate serious ideas in a very high-noise environment", and that the group's main thesis is that "there's adecadence, a decline and eventually it will be followed by something else."[8]Ben Schreckinger, writing forPolitico, described it as "a network [...] that revel[s] in mythic, aristocratic pasts while trafficking in racism andanti-Semitism."[9]
Andrew Sabisky, writing forInternational Business Times UK, quoted "Kantbot" summarising Frogtwitter as "the last bastion of indiscriminate and all-embracingcultural criticism; a space not for ideology, but for pure, truly unfiltered critique. It is ananti-political sphere, in many ways, or perhaps one of a politics of pureaesthetics."[7] Sabisky himself lauds Frogtwitter for "the magic of frogtwitter [that] lies in the balance between the darkness of theirnihilism and the joyous, majestic, life-affirmingvitality with which they express it, buttressed by a fierce intelligence."[7] Ben Sixsmith writing forThe American Conservative notes that trying to define Frogtwitter could lead to embarrassment, but he tries by saying "its inhabitants tend to be young, male, white, and nationalistic, but also less fixated on race than the alt-right and more cynical, literary, esoteric, and mischievous. They love to walk the line between satire and seriousness, to get a reaction as with other trolls, but also to deconstruct what they see as artificial forms of social meaning."[10] Dan DeCarlo writing forClaremont Institute'sAmerican Mind sums up Frogtwitter as a short-lived, bizarro right-wingavant-garde, and lauds it as a nihilistic collective art project that struggles with the end of liberalism and "a spiritual mutiny against the religion ofprogressive liberalism."[11]
According to popular member "Bronze Age Pervert", as quoted by Tara Isabella Burton forVox, Frogtwitter does not advocate for a particular political project but is rather a "dissatisfaction with modern life in many ways for the same reasons liberals were dissatisfied before... It's a world that's tightly controlled, repressive, ugly, extremely polluted."[12] Jacob Siegel notes that Frogtwitter limits its "activism" to tweets alone,[8] but that may not be without consequence, troll and noted2016 election influencer[13] "Ricky Vaughn" is being sued for the spreading of misinformation and election interference.[14]
Ben Schreckinger did a brief survey of some of the themes occupying the minds of Frogtwitter: "Figures in this space frequently refer to their belief that elite media is preparing Americans for afuture in which their quality of life is greatly diminished and people are reduced toeating insects forprotein".[9] And "because this corner of the internet fixates onpopulation genetics and has a high affinity forSlavic andnorthern European cultures, there is a fascination with theUdmurt people, a small ethnic group that lives mostly in Russia, and the fact that a high proportion of its members have red hair."[9] The accounts also "oppose mass migration, echoing the themes of theGreat Replacement conspiracy theory (...) [which] claims that European elites are secretly conspiring to replace their countries' white majorities with immigrants from Africa and the Middle East."[9]
GNET researchers Joshua Molloy and Eviane Leidig highlight particular aspects of Frogtwitter's affection forraw food diets and its distaste forPUFAs,seed oils andsoy products.[15]
Andrew Sabisky describes a viral tweet, retweeted byAnn Coulter, by user "menaquinone4" as typical Frogtwitter output which both affirmed and mocked the "Deep state" conspiracy theory by contrasting two pictures, one of a movie star playing a spy holding a sniper rifle next to a picture of former CIA member and 2016 presidential candidateEvan McMullin eating a snack, headed by the caption: "deep state: what you think ur getting vs. what you're actually getting".[6]
"Kantbot"'s viral moment in late 2016 exemplifies some of Frogtwitter's more esoteric themes. Jacob Siegel describes the event inThe Baffler: "you may have encountered the viral video of a portly, curly-haired young man in glasses and peacoat going on aboutThule. He is holding forth at an anti-Trump rally to an amused reporter and an agitated crowd, explaining that president [Trump] is going to resurrect thelost city of Atlantis and do whatHegel andFichte could not, by completing the system ofGerman idealism."[8]
Prominent members of Frogtwitter mentioned in the media were:
These personalities often boast many thousands of online followers.[17]
AnarchistCody Wilson is said to engage with Frogtwitter,[8] and, according toJacobin, Frogtwitter is adjacent toincel subculture.[21]The Baffler brings up Frogtwitter's adjacency to theneoreactionary movement.[8] Joshua Molloy and Eviane Leidig make note of the close relationship between the Right Wing Bodybuilder (RWBB) movement and Frogtwitter.[15][22] Molloy also reports that it is rumored within Frogtwitter thatJD Vance (who follows Bronze Age Pervert and Raw Egg Nationalist on X) is exposed to their ideas.[23] According to a friend ofSpectator writer Grayson Quay,Tucker Carlson's writers 'literally live' on frogtwitter.[18]
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