The North Atlantic Fella Organization (NAFO) is trying to take down Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform. NAFO is an online activist group founded to combat pro-Russia propaganda related to the invasion of Ukraine. Last month, the group turned its attention to Trump’s social network and launched a campaign to take over the trending topics section on the website.
NAFO says that the operation was so successful that they now have a long-term goal: Take down Truth Social completely. They believe the platform is an aggregator for extremism and violence. Truth Social was launched in early 2022 by Trump, who had been kicked off of mainstream platforms for inciting violence. The site has failed to attract anyone outside of Trump supporters and conspiracy groups, and has instead become the butt of jokes.
NAFO posts anonymously to avoid blowback and uses cartoon Shiba Inu dogs as avatars. They were inspired by a campaign earlier this year that got the #DeSantis2024 hashtag trending on Truth Social. NAFO launched their campaign in October by using anti-MAGA hashtags. Just 50 members were involved, but they successfully got hashtags that could be misinterpreted as pro-MAGA onto the trending list.
The campaign was orchestrated in a private group, and everyone shared each other’s posts to make it look like there were more people involved. NAFO claims the campaign had an even greater impact on the platform: They say Truth Social took down new app downloads from the app store and closed new account registration. Truth Social did not respond to requests for comment.
The success of the campaign did entice around 200 NAFO members to sign up for future anti-Truth Social campaigns. NAFO is planning to spread pro-Ukraine content on the platform and target the few advertisers who have decided to pay Trump to sell gold, alternative medicine, and Trump merchandise on his platform.
While the operation was being conducted by anonymous accounts, the campaign was far from top secret. A few of the NAFO accounts have been taken down, but they say they’re not worried about being kicked off Truth Social. They believe Truth Social doesn’t have the capability to deal with something like this on an ongoing basis.
