As incoherent, unhinged, or even cringey as the Minneapolis shooter’s videos might seem, they are part of a familiar template of terroristic behavior—one that continues to spread in online communities dedicated to mass shootings and other forms of brutality.
As the extremism researchers Jean Slater and Ry Terran wrote earlier this year, these groups, as well as right-wing youth subcultures, have blended together into a diffuse, “hybrid threat network.” What this means is that users from all these fringe subcultures—people from Terrorgram, mass-murder fan groups, people looking to groom children, trolls—are interacting across public social networks and private chat communities. These individuals may not all share the same interests, yet they are fellow travelers on many of the worst spaces on the internet. Slater and Terran call this loose network the “Soyjak Attacker Video Fandom,” named in part after a message board started by 4chan users.The goal of these attacks is to join a lineage of infamous killers.These disaffected communities live on social networks, message boards, and private Discords. They are populated by trolls, gore addicts, and, of course, aspiring shooters, who study, debate, and praise mass-shooting tactics and manifestos.That people might be falling for the Minneapolis shooter’s scribblings and raging at each other over potential motivations is likely thrilling to potential copycat killers—proof that the troll still works. We can link to the post still but summarize it ourselves: As one extremism researcher posted last week, the goal of these attacks is to join the lineage of mass shooters and for the next killer to inscribe their name on a gun before an attack.