- Hacktivist group Anonymous is coming after the Bored Ape Yacht Club
- The group will investigate claims of Nazism and other dark sentiments in the collection
- Yuga Labs has already denied any such links
In a twist that no one could have seen coming, Anonymous, the vigilante hacking group that has targeted the Church of Scientology, government agencies and the Ku Klux Klan, now has another target – the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The group, which has stepped into the crypto space before by targeting Elon Musk for his manipulation of the crypto prices, said in a new video that it will carry out an investigation into the supposed dark symbolism hidden inside Bored Ape NFTs, claims that artist Ryder Ripps is being taken to court over.
Anonymous to Investigate Bored Apes
Anonymous released the video to YouTube earlier this week, citing Ripps’ claims of Nazi symbolism and other ‘dog whistles’ that are baked into the Bored Ape designs. Anonymous says that it has started noticing “example after example” of Nazism, racism and even peadophilia that are “allegedly attached as symbolism within the components”, asking why none of these accusations have “actually been put to rest”.
To this end, Anonymous says that, rather than carrying out any dastardly deed against Bored Ape founders Yuga Labs, it is instead going to carry out and publish its own research into the matter and “let the public decide”, marking a departure from its usual modus operandi.
Are the Tiger’s Claws Blunt?
Anonymous says that it is aware of Yuga Labs response to the claims, which included Yuga Labs founders explaining in February and again in July this year that there was a “crazy disinformation campaign accusing us — a group of Jewish, Turkish, Pakistani, and Cuban friends — of being super-secret Nazis.”
However, Anonymous says that it has “never come across anything that has been labelled as unrefuted”, although where it supposed it would find this handy labelling service is a mystery, given that Yuga Labs has denied specific elements of its design that have been criticised.
Yuga Labs might not feel too concerned though – Anonymous’ targeting of Musk, which was given the green light last June, doesn’t seem to have come to much, at least publicly. Their targeting of him doesn’t even make it to the group’s comprehensive Wikipedia page, so perhaps they will lose heart in the pursuit of Yuga Labs too.
