Godaddy Gives Neo-Nazi Website 24 Hours Before Shutting It Down; Site Makes Claim It Was Seized By Anonymous

The Daily Stormer, the neo-Nazi website favored by the white supremacists who ran amuck in the Virginia city of Charlottesville, appeared to have been taken over by the hacker group “Anonymous,” though members of the latter group believe the hack is a hoax.

One of the largest "Anonymous" account holders on Twitter Inc TWTR said, “Nobody's taken credit, despite our outreach. (Daily Stormer) made the post to manipulate their audience.” The poster said the group may have claimed it was hack to elicit sympathy or stir anger among its followers.

Daily Stormer's “moderator,” Andrew Anglin, said he had seized control of the site from Anonymous, adding fuel to speculation that the hack was fabricated to draw attention.

Several news organizations originally reported the Anonymous hack as legitimate.

Related link: Subtext Of The Siege In Charlottesville: Virginia Makes $24 Billion Off Racial History

Find A New Domain

The domain company Godaddy Inc GDDY on Sunday gave Daily Stormer 24 hours to find a new place, saying it was banning the invective-filled website for violating its terms of service because of its role in the clashes between white supremacists groups and counter-protesters on Saturday.

A 32-year-old woman, Heather Heyer of Charlottesville, was killed when a purported Nazi sympathizer James Alex Fields Jr. allegedly slammed his car into a crowd of people protesting the white nationalist rally. Nineteen other people were injured. Fields was arrested and being held without bond.

Benzinga reached out to Godaddy spokespeople for comment on the timing of the ban for the site, which traffics in racist and anti-Semitic rants and conspiracy theories. The domain name company took action after the site wrote a derogatory story about Heyer.

Reuters reported Monday afternoon that Daily Stormer moved its domain to Google, which then canceled the domain registration."

"We are cancelling Daily Stormer’s registration with Google Domains for violating our terms of service,” a spokesperson told Business Insider.