Nikki Haley has become the latest politician who’s been “swatted.” Swatted is a term that describes a form harassment where a fake call is made to the emergency services in an attempt to get a SWAT to show up to a person’s home. The incident happened last month when a caller called 911 to say he had shot someone.
[[{“value”:”The most recent politician to be” swatted” is Nikki Haley, who uses the term to describe a form of harassment in which emergency services are called in an attempt to persuade an emergency team to visit someone’s home. According to Reuters, which first reported on the swatting, the incident happened next month when a man dialed 911 and claimed he had shot the woman at Nikki Haley’s South Carolina home and was threatening to harm himself.
According to public records examined by the outlet, police stated that they intended to launch a” threat assessment” and were attempting to identify the caller. There was no statement from Haley’s office regarding the incident.
In the past, the strategy was typically used by people who were very website, and it was frequently targeted at people with very high internet speeds, such as Twitch streamers. The most notable incident occurred in August 2022, when trans Twitch streamer Keffals was good swatted by Kiwi Farms users who were transphobic online.
However, over the past few months, incidents of swatting politicians and government representatives have considerably increased, typically as a result of an increase in an individual’s open visibility. According to Reuters, there have been at least 27 instances of such swatting on politicians, elected officials, prosecutors, and judges, including Democratic Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Gay ), and Representative Brandon Williams. Y. Among others, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ( D) and Sen. Rick Scott ( R. Fla. ) trial Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is in charge of the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump. An early-morning swatting call was made to Judge Arthur Engoron in January, who is overseeing Trump’s legal trial in Manhattan. A rise in bomb threats against statehouses and courtrooms across the nation is even causing the surge.
Because callers will use services to hide their phone numbers, the calls are frequently difficult for law enforcement to track. However, offenders could face severe penalties if discovered. The hoax caller received a 20-year prison term in 2017 following the police death of one man in swatting.
Swatting calls are even associated with extreme activity on the right. The majority of the violent incidents that Reuters and various researchers have followed, particularly the fatal ones like the shooting at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022, in which ten white supremacists were killed, were committed by people claiming to have righteous sympathies.
The hoax calls coincided with the highest levels of political violence since the 1970s, according to a different Reuters investigation. The report claims that after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capital Riots, there have been more than 200 documented instances of politically motivated violence.
However, the focus of violence in the 1970s was unique and more often carried out by the left. According to Rachel Kleinfeld, a social conflict and extremism expert at the Washington, DC-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank,” there were several, several bombings, but usually at night or after called-in warnings.” The objective was to influence decisions, never to kill people.”}]] The most recent politician to be” swatted” is Nikki Haley, who uses the term to describe a form of harassment in which emergency services are called in an attempt to persuade an emergency team to visit someone’s home. When a man called 911 next month and claimed he had shot an animal, the incident took place.
Nikki Haley has become the latest politician who’s been “swatted.” Swatted is a term that describes a form harassment where a fake call is made to the emergency services in an attempt to get a SWAT to show up to a person’s home. The incident happened last month when a caller called 911 to say he had shot someone.
AP Photo/Charles Krupa. Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.. Nikki Haley is the latest politician to have been “swatted”—a term used to describe a form of harassment in which a hoaxcall is made to emergency services to try to spur a SWAT team to show up at a person’s home. The incident occurred last month when a man called 911 and said he had shot a woman at Nikki Haley’s South Carolina home and was threatening to self-harm, according to Reuters, which first reported on the swatting.. Public records reviewed by the outlet showed that police said that they planned to open a “threat assessment” and were trying to trace the number that made the call. Haley’s office did not issue a statement about the incident.. In the past, the tactic was generally employed by extremely online people, often directed at extremely online targets, like Twitch streamers. The highest profile incidence took place in August 2022, when trans Twitch streamer Keffals was swatted likely by users of the transphobic internet forum Kiwi Farms.. Incidents of swatting politicians and government officials, however, have increased significantly over the last few months, generally following an uptick in an individual’s public visibility. Reuters reported that it had documented at least 27 cases of such swatting on politicians, elected officials, prosecutors, and judges including Democratic Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.), Sen. Rick Scott (R. Fla.), trial Judge Tanya Chutkan—who is overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case—and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D) among others. In January, Judge Arthur Engoron who is presiding over Trump’s civil trial in Manhattan, received an early morning swatting call. The surge is also occurring amid an uptick in bomb threats on statehouses and courthouses around the country.. The calls are often hard for law enforcement to trace because callers will use services to hide their phone numbers. When caught, though, perpetrators can face stiff penalties. In 2017, after a man was killed by police in a swatting incident, the hoax caller was sentenced to 20 years in prison.. Extremist activity on the right is also linked to swatting calls. Most of the violent incidents that Reuters and other researchers have tracked, especially the deadly ones including the 2022 shooting at a Buffalo grocery store in which a white supremacist killed ten people, have been perpetrated by individuals claiming sympathies to the right.. A separate Reuters investigation found that the hoax calls coincided with the highest rates of political violence since the 1970s. According to the report, there have been over 200 documented acts of politically motivated violence following the Jan. 6 2021 Capital Riots.. In the 1970s, however, the focus of violence was different and more frequently carried out by the left. “There were many, many bombings, but usually at night, or after called-in warnings,” Rachel Kleinfeld, who studies political conflict and extremism at the Washington, DC, think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Reuters. “The goal was not to kill people; it was to affect decisions.”
