Daily Stormer might have made up hack to stir up anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, Anonymous account suggests

The site was about to be shut down anyway

(Getty Images)

The 'Anonymous' hack on the Daily Stormer might actually be a hoax pulled by the notorious Nazi website.

That's according to one of the biggest Anonymous Twitter accounts, which suggests that the group doesn't actually have anything to do with the hack and it could be fake.

Instead, the Nazi website might have staged the hack because its website was about to be taken down anyway, it suggested. The far-right site was told by host GoDaddy that it would be kicked off within 24 hours – and given that it is unlikely any other hosting service would allow it to be a customer, it's probable the site will disappear.

Early in the morning of 14 August, a post appeared on the Daily Stormer website that said it had been taken over by Anonymous and would be shut down in 24 hours, which led multiple news sites including The Independent to report the hack claim. Because Anonymous is a loosely-affiliated organisation, it is possible for anyone to claim allegiance with the group and conduct operations in its name.

But Your Anon News, one of the biggest Anonymous accounts, said that it didn't think the hack had been done by any established member.

"We have no confirmation that 'Anonymous' is involved yet," it wrote on Twitter. "Looks more like a [Daily Stormer] stunt. Wonder if they are having issues finding a new host."

If the Daily Stormer can't find another host after GoDaddy removed it, then it's likely that it would be taken offline entirely.

It went on to say that the site could have been attempting to trick established Anonymous accounts, or to stir up the suggestion that a conspiracy had led to it being taken down. The post had said that the hack had been done "in defence of Jewish people".

"Look at the cliche script of the site," a tweet posted by the account read. "It will give them a cute claim later that we're part of the 'Jewish Conspiracy' they rant about it."

The post attributed to Anonymous claimed that the site would be shut down in 24 hours. That is incidentally the exact amount of time that host GoDaddy had given the site to find a new host before it was shut down.

"We informed The Daily Stormer that they have 24 hours to move the domain to another provider, as they have violated our terms of service," GoDaddy posted on its official Twitter page.

The Daily Stormer post in question denigrated Heather Heyer, 32, who was fatally struck by a car allegedly driven by a man with white nationalist views, for her physical appearance and what it said were anti-white male views.