CNN threatens to dox creator of Trump meme

[Lionhearte0]

Fuck CNN.

If you defend them over this, you're an absolute piece of shit. Period.

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Privacy is absolutely a human right, but CNN isn't the one who exposed the video to the world. Yeah, the guy definitely did not want the attention. Which is generally why normal people, ask creators of their content before using it.

Yeah, I'm sure you ask the creator of every meme you've ever shared for permission. Bullshit.

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He contacted CNN and asked them not to publish his name. They agreed to it since he said he wouldn't "repeat this ugly behavior on social media again." I don't see the problem here.

Because they fucking threatened him over it.

[Felya]

His apology is gone, but not of his own will. This was done by TD as far as it is said in that article.

Yet, CNN still has not revealed his name. They didn't ask him to do anything else.

But to cut back to the main point, yes the author authorized people to share his gif by releasing it on a public platform which allows pictures to be shared freely in their ToS. The ToS does not mention the violation of privacy. Trump shared the public gif, with no mention of the source. It was then tracked back by CNN, which then proceeded to contact the creator at his own house's phone. Then, when the whole thing blew out and the man saw that CNN tried to contact him, then he realized CNN had something he didn't want exposed. So he called them and explained the situation.

So, you are going to ignore that he posted the apology before calling? You are going to ignore that them not revealing his name, was his request?

It was, to my understanding, amicably resolved...

Amicably? CNN fulfilled his request... they had the full right and still do, to reveal his name. It's not being revealed, not because of a threat, but because he asked after apologizing. CNN did not ask him to do anything. CNN did nothing when his apology on The_Donald was deleted.

Then CNN goes to say that if the user changes his behavior, they'll reveal his identity.

Wait, what?

Change what behavior? The only thing changed, is his request to not reveal his name. Which CNN didn't, even after the apology was deleted.

That's blackmail.

CNN doing what he asked, is not black mail. That's your bias and unwillingness to read the whole article. They were going to release his name, until he asked them not to. That's doing him a favor, not black mail.

Had CNN revealed his name without his consent, that would've been considered as "Doxxing", which is also illegal and fall in several categories (namely stalking, harassment, threats, etc), because that information belongs to a private citizen with a right to his own privacy, in a context where the knowledge of that person's name was not made public as it could lead to personnal harm while doing something entirely legal. We're not talking of a felony here, the guy's not a criminal.

If someone asks you to do something, it cannot be coercion. Did he apologize on The_Donald, without CNN threatening him? Did he contact CNN? Did he ask for his name to not be released? How is this coercion? If they release his name it wouldn't be because of trying to defame him, but as news. There was no threat or demands made bay CNN and they did what he asked.

[Deleted]

Is CNNs ego really that sensitive? It was a stupid gift posted by trump, why don't they just ignore it?
Then again, it's CNN....

[Flarelaine]

That's odd. I thought the right was all about "doxing" anonymous sources.

They also claim to be the party of personal responsibility, but both of these only apply to opponents, apparently.

[Trollhammer]

People doing mental gymnastics in this thread because "hurr Trump"

This has nothing to do with politics. This is a news agency threatening a teen over a meme they didnt like.. People defending CNN on this need to take a good look at themselves..

[Felya]

Fuck CNN.

If you defend them over this, you're an absolute piece of shit. Period.

... or... you know, you can read more than the misinformation the op is providing, the guy asked for his name to not be revealed and you are bitching that they didn't.

Yeah, I'm sure you ask the creator of every meme you've ever shared for permission. Bullshit.

As sure as I am the president of the US. As sure as the entire world is reading my posts.

Because they fucking threatened him over it.

He asked them to not reveal it. That's called doing what he asked, not threatening. They have full right to release his information as news, because the president of the used it. Not just some random Internet poster, which he was before the president of the US used it. It's only a threat when you don't read the whole article or ignore that the fitholding of the name was due to his request, not him fulfilling any request of CNN. He has literally done nothing more after talking to CNN, he didn't provide another apology, CNN didn't ask him to repost it somewhere else, because The_Donald deleted his apology.

So, while you complain about CNN saying they didn't reveal his name because he asked, even though they could. The_Donald actually deleted the apology that came before talking to CNN. Who exactly is trying to hide the truth?

[Lionhearte0]

So, you are going to ignore that he posted the apology before calling? You are going to ignore that them not revealing his name, was his request?

They said otherwise.

"This apology came after CNN identified and reached out to him."

Andrew Kaczynski is the one who wrote said article.

CNN doing what he asked, is not black mail. That's your bias and unwillingness to read the whole article. They were going to release his name, until he asked them not to. That's doing him a favor, not black mail.

How kind of them to not release his identity but instead make blatant threats against him, a 15 year old boy.

[Flarelaine]

... or... you know, you can read more than the misinformation the op is providing, the guy asked for his name to not be revealed and you are bitching that they didn't.

If you think he's merely mis- or underinformed, read his sig.

[Collegeguy]

Apparently the news publishing a person's name is "really upset".

Meanwhile a President tweeting a childish meme about him beating those mean news outlets who dared criticise him is him being totally calm and rational.

Not to mention the guy who made said meme apparently bricking his pants at anyone knowing it was him.

CNN was trying to fight fake news at it's own game. Now they're trying to do the same with Trump. Glorious.

[Felya]

People doing mental gymnastics in this thread because "hurr Trump"

This has nothing to do with politics. This is a news agency threatening a teen over a meme they didnt like.. People defending CNN on this need to take a good look at themselves..

He asked them to not reveale his name and posted his apology on The_Donald, before talking to CNN. An apology that The_Donald promptly deleted, but CNN still kept their word and didn't release his name.

You can try the bullshit self glorification. But, I don't need to tell you to look at your self, just read the damn article instead of falling for misinformation because you are lazy.

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They said otherwise.

"This apology came after CNN identified and reached out to him."

Andrew Kaczynski is the one who wrote said article.

No shit, it states so in the article it self. They reached out to him, but didn't get in contact until he called them. This is in the article, by the same writer.

How kind of them to not release his identity but instead make blatant threats against him, a 15 year old boy.

Blatant threat of him asking them to not do it. Read the damn article...

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If you think he's merely mis- or underinformed, read his sig.

It's not just him and it just shows how pervasive Trump's attack on the media is. I'm literally being linked twitter posts of the articles writer, that CNN reached out to him to confirm his name. As if that's not clearly stated in the article. Nothing in the article states that they asked him to do anything. In fact, they didn't confirm it was him, until he called back and owned up to it. All of this is in the article, but I'm getting tweets. Crazy...

[I Push Buttons]

Doxxing should be a crime.

Pretty sure its a crime in most jurisdictions if you do it to a private citizen. It just falls under other criminal codes like stalking, harassment, threats, etc...

Which would make this threat to dox someone fall under another statute... Coercion. Since they seemingly induced him to do something he otherwise would not do under threat.

Criminal coercion.
(a) A person is guilty of criminal coercion if, with purpose to unlawfully restrict another's freedom of action to his or her detriment, he or she threatens to:

(1) Commit any criminal offense; or

(2) Accuse anyone of a criminal offense; or

(3) Take or withhold action as an official, or cause an official to take or withhold action.

[Lionhearte0]

He asked them to not reveale his name and posted his apology on The_Donald, before talking to CNN. An apology that The_Donald promptly deleted, but CNN still kept their word and didn't release his name.

You can try the bullshit self glorification. But, I don't need to tell you to look at your self, just read the damn article instead of falling for misinformation because you are lazy.

Let me spell this out for you, using the article you keep defending.

http://web.archive.org/web/201707050...eet/index.html

The apology came after CNN's KFile identified the man behind "HanA**holeSolo." Using identifying information that "HanA**holeSolo" posted on Reddit, KFile was able to determine key biographical details, to find the man's name using a Facebook search and ultimately corroborate details he had made available on Reddit.

Here, CNN blatantly admits to doxxing him and that an apology came only after he was identified.

On Monday, KFile attempted to contact the man by email and phone but he did not respond. On Tuesday, "HanA**holeSolo" posted his apology on the subreddit /The_Donald and deleted all of his other posts.

This is after they initially contacted him. Clearly he was afraid CNN would release his info, thus prompting his apology on Reddit.

How do I know that?

Because CNN fucking said so.

After posting his apology, "HanA**holeSolo" called CNN's KFile and confirmed his identity. In the interview, "HanA**holeSolo" sounded nervous about his identity being revealed and asked to not be named out of fear for his personal safety and for the public embarrassment it would bring to him and his family.

But here's the kicker...

CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.

Go ahead. Defend CNN some more. I'll wait.

[Strangebrew]

Can track down a 15 year old kid over a meme and threaten to release his private information for the whole world to see in a day.
Can't prove russia conspiracy in a year.
#justMSManddemocratthings

[I Push Buttons]

Can track down a 15 year old kid over a meme and threaten to release his private information for the whole world to see in a day.
Can't prove russia conspiracy in a year.
#justMSManddemocratthings

That's a pretty retarded false equivalence.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Seems like good motivation for him to not do it again.

[Deleted]

Come on guys, this is obviously fine. If you can't doxx someone on a "news" network or make articles threatening them how else are you supposed to deal with people you don't like? I mean, he made a gif. This kid is practically worse than Hitler.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Go ahead. Defend CNN some more. I'll wait.

CNN is following the Republican/Trumpkin mantra of "fuck your feelings, take responsibility for your actions". Why do you think people shouldn't take responsibility for the things they do?

[jimboa24]

CNN is following the Republican/Trumpkin mantra of "fuck your feelings, take responsibility for your actions". Why do you think people shouldn't take responsibility for the things they do?

He did nothing wrong. He created a silly meme. This is patently absurd and you trying to defend it with vague false equivalency statements alluding to Trump is even more ridiculous.

This is like threatening to doxx someone for making the Rickroll a thing because the President of the US rickrolled you and you didn't like it.

[The Oblivion]

CNN is acting like a pissed of league of legends player threatening to dox someone.

also i did LOL at some of the memes coming out of this
https://i.redd.it/74my0t714q7z.jpg

[Edge-]

He did nothing wrong. He created a silly meme. This is patently absurd and you trying to defend it with vague false equivalency statements alluding to Trump is even more ridiculous.

One doesn't always get to choose when, and for what they become of public interest/gain notoriety for. For this kid, it's this. He may not have wanted or intended for it, but welcome to life and shit. Take responsibility, as he apparently has given his apology and decision to leave Reddit and whatnot (hopefully not to return under a different name), but welcome to life.

Consequences exist for free speech, it's a side effect of having it.

I'm not defending CNN, I'm not entirely comfortable with them leaving the threat to reveal his identity, which he clearly does not want, open so publicly. They're absolutely coming off as slimy as hell and as I said, I'm not entirely comfortable with how they've handled this.