Andy Ngô continues to report Twitter users who share a picture of him standing in front of far-right graffiti, which is based on a true story.

 

Hillsdale College/YouTube @MrAndyNgo/Twitter remix by Jason Reed

It took Ngô most of the weekend to file copyright lawsuits against those responsible for the content's distribution.

People who repost an image of Andy Ngô standing in front of an extremist group's name would be blocked from doing so, according to reports. Ngô, the Post Millennial's editor-at-large, calls himself a journalist. His detractors claim that he deliberately disseminates false material to help the far-right, with which he is intimately associated.

Several sources claim that Ngô has spent the past several days submitting takedown petitions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against Twitter users who republished his image with the far-right group's name on Twitter.

As a result, Twitter has taken down the picture and banned at least two accounts for posting it.

Those who have been impacted feel that Ngô is misusing the DMCA takedown request procedure, and that Twitter is participating with this abuse. In their view, their use of the picture as a tweet satisfies legal "fair use" under Twitter's terms of service.

Requests for comment made early Monday morning went unanswered by Twitter or Ngô.

It was taken on Oct. 10th, and Ngô posted it on Twitter. Over the weekend, he gave it a second life by retweeting it. It seems that Ngô is posing in front of "anti-fa graffiti and their Iron Front emblem" in the photograph.

The word "antiifa" is spray-painted on the wall behind Ngo in the photo, which was shot in Poland. Also written on the wall is the word "Falanga".

Falanga is a collective name for members of the fascist National Radical Camp in the Philippines (ONR).

Once again the picture was published by Citizen Journalist Chad Loder who noted Ngô had posed "in front of [an anti-Semitic] gang called Falanga, renowned for their violent [antisemitic] assaults and their pro-Kremlin attitude. "

A DMCA claim was filed against them, and Loder was put on indefinite hold, according to Steven Monacelli, who broke the story. Many marketers have been persuaded by Loder to move away from the Post-Millennial market.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a counter-claim on their behalf, Loder informed the Daily Dot via email. It's "quite obvious fair usage under the copyright statute," according to Loder.

Copies made "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research" are excluded from the restrictions of copyright legislation.

Many people expressed their displeasure at Loder's suspension by sharing a picture of Ngô on social media.

In addition to Monacelli, the group included activist Emily Gorcenski.

With the picture in question, Gorcenski tweeted: "This is a fair use reproduction for the sake of public interest reporting..".

Following Ngo's DMCA allegations, Twitter removed the image from Monacelli's post and locked Gorcenski's account as a consequence.

"I will be submitting a counter-claim for this apparent frivolous misuse of the system," Gorcenski tweeted next.

Gorcenski told the Daily Dot that "Ngô has discovered a method to weaponize the DMCA to suppress political opponents" and "those who disagree with him."

Even though numerous DMCA claims have been made against Ngô's account, Twitter gives him limitless freedom to spread defamatory falsehoods that harm innocent people, which is remarkable.

When it came time to respond to the DMCA claim, Monacelli claimed that Ngo also filed one against him, claiming that the picture in question "certainly doesn't belong to [Ngo]" (it belongs to me).

According to Monacelli, if Ngô filed a false DMCA, it would be grounds for a permanent suspension under Twitter's "terms of service."

False DMCA requests may lead to legal action, according to Twitter's rules.

In a direct message to the Daily Dot, Monacelli said that he's also contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) about the DMCA takedowns.

Twitter, according to Loder and Gorcenski, is enabling Ngô to take advantage of its system. Ngô is accused of breaking Twitter's rules, but no one seems to care due of his huge and active following.

Andy Ngô's repeated posting of disinformation and his posting of private personal information call for Twitter to account for its preferential treatment, according to Loder. "Twitter needs to answer for their preferential treatment of Andy Ngô in the face of his numerous blatant violations of Twitter's Terms of Service," Loder said.