Canadian hacker feels remorse for role Anonymous members played in rise of Trump

By Alexandra Posadzki

More than two decades ago, a group of young, predominantly male internet users started congregating on an online forum called 4chan, where they circulated memes, co-ordinated pranks and orchestrated disinformation campaigns. A subset of them formed a loose collective that called itself Anonymous.

But what began as “fun and high jinks” kicked off what Canadian hacker Aubrey Cottle characterizes as “a chain reaction that resulted in the alt-right online culture wars and … essentially blossomed into the rise of Trump.”

Today, the 38-year-old resident of Oshawa, Ont., feels culpable for the role he believes that he and other members of Anonymous played in inadvertently helping Donald Trump become the President of the United States.

“It’s hard not to beat yourself up constantly,” said Mr. Cottle, who describes himself as an “anarchist anti-fascist” and is known online by the alias Kirtaner.

Mr. Cottle was arrested and charged earlier this year for allegedly hacking into and defacing the Texas Republican Party’s website nearly four years ago, according to a U.S. criminal complaint unsealed in March.

His lawyers have called the timing of the charges “peculiar,” noting in a statement that Canadian law enforcement’s decision to co-operate with U.S. authorities came in the wake of Mr. Trump’s return to office.

Published by the Globe and Mail.