Joshua Ryne Goldberg

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Joshua Ryne Goldberg
Joshua Ryne Goldberg2.jpg
Goldberg in 2018
Born (1995-05-14) May 14, 1995 (age 26)
Other namesAustrali Witness, Tanya Cohen, Madotsuki the Dreamer, MoonMetropolis, European88, Michael Slay, AustWitness, AusWitness, Gookposter
CitizenshipAmerican
Conviction(s)18 U.S.C. S 844(i), Attempted malicious damage and destruction by an explosive of a building.
Criminal charge18 U.S.C. S 842(p), The illegal distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction.
Penalty20 years in prison, with a 5-year mandatory minimum term of imprisonment
Date apprehended
September 9, 2015
Imprisoned atTerre Haute FCI[1]

Joshua Ryne Goldberg (born May 14, 1995) is an American terrorist and internet troll,[2] convicted of attempting a bombing on the 14th anniversary of the September 11 attacks[3] while posing as an Islamic terrorist affiliated with ISIS.[4][5][6]

Goldberg first received law-enforcement and media attention under his Twitter handle "Australi Witness" following the Curtis Culwell Center attack, a terrorist attack on a Garland, Texas exhibit featuring images of Muhammad in May 2015, in which two assailants died in a shootout with police.[3] The "Australi Witness" persona, had, posing as a Perth jihadist, called for an attack on, and posted maps of, the center where the exhibit was taking place, praised the jihadist attackers in its aftermath, and was retweeted by one of the assailants before the attack.[7] He claimed credit for the attack.[8][9][10][11] Goldberg also planned terrorist attacks in Australia.[9][11][12][13]

Goldberg had many online identities and spent virtually all of his time on the internet.[8] In addition to promoting terrorism, he made thousands of troll posts advocating for liberal feminism, neo-nazism, and other ideologies.

Initially charged with distributing information about bomb-making techniques in connection with a planned attack on a 2015 Kansas City 9/11 memorial event,[14] Goldberg's trial was suspended pending efforts by doctors to return him to competence[15] after it emerged that he had a history of mental illness.[16]

On December 20, 2017, Goldberg pleaded guilty to federal charges of attempted malicious damage and destruction by an explosive of a building.[3][17] On June 25, 2018, Goldberg was sentenced to ten years in federal prison and lifetime supervision.[18]

Early life and education[]

Goldberg is Jewish.[19][20][21] He lived with his parents in Orange Park, Florida, a suburb of Jacksonville.[22]

Online activities[]

Goldberg made online posts under a number of different pen names.[8] He spent 14 to 20 hours on the internet per day.[23]

Islamist-related personas[]

Australi Witness[]

Australi Witness was an online persona, claiming to be an ISIS-affiliated jihadist from Australia, who was described by Rita Katz, executive director of SITE Intelligence Group, as holding a "prestigious position" in online jihadi circles.[7]

Australi Witness urged an attack on the Draw Muhammad Contest being held at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, on May 3, 2015, suggesting that "brothers in Texas" to go there "with your weapons, bombs or with knifes [sic]" to "defend your Prophet".[24] The persona also posted maps to the event. Subsequently, two men, identified as Phoenix, Arizona, residents Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, were shot dead by police as they attempted to attack the contest. The FBI found that Simpson retweeted a message from the Australi Witness Twitter handle on the morning of the attack.[19][20] Australi Witness claimed credit for having inspired the attack to multiple media outlets,[8][9][10] praised Simpson and Soofi as martyrs,[25] and expressed support for the attack in an interview with Fairfax Media.[7]

Australi Witness posted a 50-page guide online on how to join the terror group ISIS,[26] and later posted a list of synagogues in Australia, ostensibly to encourage his supporters to attack them.[13] He communicated that he was planning an attack in Melbourne to an FBI informant, who posed as a jihadist,[27] and a 17-year-old who pleaded guilty to planning a Mother’s Day 2015 bombing in Melbourne using pressure cooker and pipe bombs, which was never carried out, was found to have been in contact with Goldberg.[12]

According to the FBI, Australi Witness posted to an ISIS-related website that he had recruited two people, one in Los Angeles, the other in Melbourne, to "using guns, shoot up local synagogues when the maximum amount of Jews are praying", stating that "the entire thing was my idea, and I helped them every step of the way".[9]

Australi Witness also claimed to have worked for Amnesty International,[6] asked followers to target Australian cartoonist Larry Pickering, and repeatedly attempted to associate himself with anti-Islamophobia campaigner Mariam Veiszadeh.[28]

Junaid Thorne and fake jihadist personas[]

Goldberg reportedly set up a fake account in the name of Australian Muslim preacher Junaid Thorne. Goldberg also created a number of fake jihadist accounts, which interacted with the fake Thorne account, and he then sent screengrabs of the fabricated interactions to journalists, at least one of whom published the fake interaction in an article of The West Australian in April 2015.[28][29]

The fake jihadist personas were also used to besmirch Amnesty International and the Human Rights Law Centre by claiming that the fake jihadists had employment ties, or donated money to, these organizations.[28]

This persona was linked to Goldberg on Facebook.[28]

Feminism-related personas[]

Caitlin Roper[]

Goldberg reportedly set up a fake Twitter account in the name of anti-sexual exploitation campaigner Caitlin Roper, who allegedly earned his ire because of her efforts to get the video game Grand Theft Auto V banned in Australia. The fake account sent Promoted Tweets that targeted the transgender community.[28]

Tanya Cohen[]

Under this persona, Goldberg posed as a female left-wing Australian activist opposed to free speech. Goldberg’s work under the persona was published in many places, including Thought Catalog, a Daily Kos diary; and Feministing, a feminist blog.[30] Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto apologized for believing a hoax allegedly perpetrated by Goldberg under the name "Tanya Cohen" earlier in 2015.[31] National Review's Charles Cooke described the article that Taranto responded to as "exquisite satire",[32] while Mike Masnick of Techdirt called it "...damn good satire, because it's just stupid enough at the beginning to drag you in and make you believe it, and then, slowly but surely, over the course of a very long writeup, it starts tossing out ever more ridiculous ideas -- drip... drip... drip -- that just, gently, turn up the outrage-o-meter, such that many people don't even realize that it's satire."[33]

This persona was linked to Goldberg on Facebook.[28]

White supremacist personas[]

European88 and Reddit[]

On Reddit, Goldberg made thousands of racist posts under the neo-Nazi persona "European88." Under this persona, Goldberg created and moderated many controversial Reddit communities that were racist in nature, including being a moderator for the "r/CoonTown" subreddit.[citation needed]

Many subreddits he created or moderated, including "r/CoonTown", were banned during a period when Reddit's content policy was revised in August 2015.[34][35]

"Michael Slay"[]

Goldberg posted on the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer as "Michael Slay".

One well-known article by this persona regarding how to recruit people from Reddit (particularly the "r/conspiracy" and "r/Europe" subreddits), described as "fertile ground for recruitment" was commented on by Sam Biddle in a Gawker article.[36]

Upon his arrest and unveiling, the administrator of the site removed his posts.[30][37]

He used this persona to criticize Mariam Veiszadeh, writing more than one Daily Stormer article about her.

Other personas[]

Times of Israel blog hoax[]

In April 2015, Goldberg covertly wrote and posted a hoax article on a Times of Israel blog calling for the extermination of the Palestinian people. The article was ostensibly written by Josh Bornstein, a Jewish Australian lawyer, and triggered widespread condemnation. Bornstein immediately disavowed responsibility for the post, which was deleted by The Times of Israel.[21] It has since been shown and accepted that Bornstein was the victim of the malicious hoax by Goldberg.[38]

Initially, it was believed that the hoax was perpetrated by white supremacists.[38] In May 2015, Bornstein faced online threats from Goldberg's Australi Witness Twitter account,[39] and it was only later learned that Goldberg was responsible for the hoaxing.[28]

Philosophy of Rape[]

Goldberg has been identified as the person behind "Philosophy of Rape", a subreddit that advocated corrective rape against "whores and feminazis", and offered tips on how to do so without getting caught.[40][41]

MoonMetropolis[]

Goldberg was also active on Twitter, Reddit, Disqus and others under the username MoonMetropolis,[8] a "free speech absolutist" who was involved with the Gamergate controversy. He would frequently use this persona to criticize the works of his other personas such as anti-free speech activist Tanya Cohen, arguing against points that he himself had made.[37]

Goldberg also posted strong opinions on the subject of free speech absolutism to the website Thought Catalog, using both the MoonMetropolis name and his own name.[30]

Unmasking and criminal proceedings[]

News reports about the Australi Witness online persona calling for the Garland attack first brought the account to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).[3][5][27] The Australian Federal Police (AFP) alerted the FBI about the real identity of Australi Witness, with the AFP, in turn, being handed the information by two Australian journalists, Elise Potaka and Luke McMahon.[8][28] However, according to the FBI affidavit filed in court, by the time they received this information from the AFP, their investigation into Goldberg was already well underway.[42] Potaka and McMahon independently tracked and identified the person behind the Australi Witness account after he impersonated Potaka on Facebook, leading to a chain of events which connected Australi Witness to Goldberg.[28] The FBI also directly linked Australi Witness to Goldberg via his IP address.[9]

Australi Witness passed specific[9] information on the manufacture of a bomb targeting a September 11 memorial event in Kansas City, Missouri to an FBI informant, who was posing as a Muslim extremist. According to the FBI, Australi Witness suggested that the informant bomb the memorial in Kansas City after the latter claimed to live near that city,[43] and also encouraged the informant to make the bomb more deadly by adding rat poison to the shrapnel.[5] Australi Witness posted pictures online of what he claimed to be a bomb he was building[6][25] and emailed BBC journalist Mike Wendling claiming credit for the Curtis Culwell Center attack, and warning that a pressure cooker bomb would be detonated in a "large Midwestern US city" on September 11, 2015.[8]

Goldberg was arrested by the FBI after being identified as Australi Witness on September 9, 2015. After a raid on his home by the FBI, Goldberg allegedly admitted to agents that he had distributed the information about making the bomb in Kansas City.[24] Goldberg appeared in court on September 15, where he was ordered to undergo a 30-day mental health evaluation to determine his fitness to stand trial.[44]

After his arrest, it emerged that Goldberg had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia and anxiety disorder.[16] On December 14, 2015, after an examination by prison psychologist Lisa Feldman at Federal Detention Center, Miami,[45] US Magistrate Judge James Klindt ruled Goldberg mentally incompetent to stand trial and Goldberg was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment for four months at the Federal Medical Center, Butner.[46][47][48][49] Goldberg again appeared before Klindt on June 15, 2016, and was described by prison psychiatrists as "improving", and that there was a "good chance" of him being returned to competency to stand trial. Another status update was scheduled by Klindt for October 15, 2016.[15] Goldberg's lawyer, Paul Shorstein, later claimed that Goldberg had Asperger's Syndrome and had been diagnosed with clinical depression.[50] Goldberg's defense subsequently claimed that Goldberg had autism, wanted to be a journalist, and had made "impressive" journalistic progress in his trolling activities.[51]

On December 20, 2017, Goldberg pleaded guilty to attempted malicious damage and destruction by an explosive of a building, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.[3] According to the plea agreement, Goldberg also claimed to have been planning a terrorist attack in Melbourne, Australia.[11]

On June 25, 2018, Goldberg was sentenced to ten years at the Federal Correctional Complex, Butner in Butner, North Carolina, followed by lifetime supervised release.[52]

See also[]

  • Internet manipulation
  • Sockpuppet

References[]

  1. ^ https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ search as on Aug 27 2021
  2. ^ Zavadski, Katie (September 11, 2015). "'Terrorist' Troll Pretended to be ISIS, White Supremacist, and Jewish Lawyer". The Daily Beast.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Clay County man enters guilty plea to bomb charge". Clay Today. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  4. ^ Justin Wm. Moyer (September 11, 2015). "Florida man plotted Sept. 11 attack on Kansas City, Mo., FBI says". Washington Post. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c Jason Dearen, Associated Press (September 11, 2015). "Man Charged in Plot to Bomb Sept. 11 Memorial in Missouri". ABC News. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Jewish man from Florida accused of posing as Australian Isis jihadist". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c David Wroe and Nick O'Malley (May 6, 2015). "Online jihadist hails power of social media after Texas attack". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Neo-Nazi, radical feminist and violent jihadist - all at once". BBC News. September 21, 2015.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Ralph Ellis and Greg Botelho, CNN (September 10, 2015). "Man accused of bomb plot at 9/11 event, FBI says - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Jay Hathaway (February 27, 2016). "How to prosecute an internet troll". Mel. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Internet troll Joshua Goldberg attempted to incite terror attacks in Melbourne". news.com.au. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b Padraic, Murphy. "Teenager pleads guilty to planning Mother's Day terrorist attack in Melbourne". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "Australian ISIS supporter tweets tips and threats following Garland Texas shootings". Australian Times. May 5, 2015.
  14. ^ "Officials stop planned terrorist attack in downtown Kansas City". KMZU 100.7 FM. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Larry Hannan (June 15, 2016). "Orange Park man accused of terrorism still incompetent, but doctors say he's getting better". The Florida Times-Union.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b "Documents: 9/11 bomb plot suspect had mental illness history". Associated Press. January 25, 2016.
  17. ^ "Clay County Man Enters Guilty Plea To Bomb Charge". www.justice.gov. December 20, 2017.
  18. ^ "Florida Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Federal Prison On Bomb Charge". US Department of Justice. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b "'Aussie jihadi' behind 9/11 memorial threat is actually a Jewish-American internet troll". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on September 13, 2015.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b "Australian Online ISIS Jihadist Turns Out to Be Florida Jew". Haaretz.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b "Florida Jew arrested for posing as online jihadist, encouraging terrorism". Times of Israel.
  22. ^ Teresa Stepzinski (September 11, 2015). "Orange Park suspect in 9/11 terrorism plot showed signs of depression, reclusive nature". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  23. ^ Paul Shorstein, Shorstein, Lasnetski & Gihon, LLC, Defendant's Sentencing Memorandum, 03/14/18, https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/GoldbergDefendantsSentencingMemorandum.pdf
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b "FBI says 'Australian IS jihadist' is actually a Jewish American troll named Joshua Ryne Goldberg". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b "FBI says 'Australian IS jihadist' is actually a Jewish American troll named Joshua Ryne Goldberg". The Age.
  26. ^ "Australian posts guide for joining ISIS". NewsComAu. May 5, 2015.
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b "US man tried to organise terror attack in Melbourne, say authorities". The Guardian.
  28. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i "Elise Potaka and Luke McMahon, Unmasking a troll: Aussie 'jihadist' Australi Witness a 20-year-old American nerd". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  29. ^ "Hoax fools wannabe jihadis". The West Australian. Archived from the original on January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b c Katie Zavadski (September 11, 2015). "'Terrorist' Troll Pretended to Be ISIS, White Supremacist, and Jewish Lawyer". The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  31. ^ James Taranto (January 16, 2015). "Freedom to Hate". The Wall Street Journal.
  32. ^ James Taranto (September 14, 2015). "The Goldberg Variations". The Wall Street Journal.
  33. ^ Mike Masnick (January 7, 2015). "That Crazy Story About Making 'Hate Speech' A Crime? Yeah, That's Satire".
  34. ^ Woollacott, Emma. "Users Flock To Voat As Reddit Shuts Harassing Groups". Forbes.
  35. ^ Huffman, Steve. "Content Policy Update". Reddit.com. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  36. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  37. ^ Jump up to: a b "Joshua Goldberg, the fake Aussie jihadist, had a hand in every online fight". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  38. ^ Jump up to: a b Josh Bornstein. "White supremacists stole my identity to spew hatred on the Times of Israel". The Guardian.
  39. ^ "How lawyer Josh Bornstein's stolen identity was used to spread race hate". Financial Review.
  40. ^ Bachelard, Elise Potaka, Luke McMahon, Michael (September 13, 2015). "Joshua Goldberg, the fake Aussie jihadist, had a hand in every online fight". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  41. ^ "Gross Subreddit Promises to Teach How to "Rape Safely" as "Corrective Discipline" for Women".
  42. ^ Hussein, Shakira (September 18, 2015). "Did FBI Islamophobia entrap an American Jew?". Crikey.
  43. ^ "American Jewish 'online troll' arrested in alleged Kansas City 9/11 memorial bomb plot". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  44. ^ News Staff, First Coast News (September 15, 2015). "Orange Park terror suspect ordered to undergo mental evaluation". FCN First For You. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015.
  45. ^ Larry Hannan (December 29, 2015). "Media asks court to release psychologist report of Orange Park man accused of terrorism". The Florida Times-Union.
  46. ^ Hannan, Larry. "Psychologist finds Orange Park man who plotted terrorist act to be mentally unstable". The Florida Times Union. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  47. ^ "Alleged 9/11 terror plot organizer deemed 'not competent' to stand trial". firstcoastnews.com. December 14, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  48. ^ ABC News. "Judge: Man Accused in Bomb Plot Not Competent for Trial". ABC News. Archived from the original on December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  49. ^ Larry Hannan (January 25, 2016). "Most of psychologist report on Orange Park man accused of terrorism released to public". The Florida Times-Union.
  50. ^ "Orange Park online troll who encouraged ISIS attacks pleads guilty". The Florida Times Union-Jacksonville.com. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  51. ^ "Joshua Ryne Goldberg's motivation revealed in US court as he claimed to be an online Australia-based jihadist". Herald Sun.
  52. ^ US terror troll who targeted Melbourne jailed for a decade, The Herald Sun, 25 June 2019

External links[]

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