A hacktivist (hacker plus activist) with pseudoname Martha Root has been reported to have remotely deleted the servers hosting three white supremacist websites: WhiteDate, WhiteChild and WhiteDeal, Cybernews reported.
During her presentation at the Chaos Communication Congress in Germany’s Hamburg, which is touted as one of the world’s largest gatherings of cybersecurity experts and digital activists, Root dressed as Pink Ranger from Power Rangers ran a a live script on screen as s/he deleted the websites’ databases and backups in real-time as the audience applauded the move.
The hacker also proceeded to extract 100 gigabytes of data and published 8,000 user profiles online during her presentation, titled “The Heartbreak Machine: Nazis in the Echo Chamber”.
WhiteDate promoted itself as a “dating platform for white people with traditional European values” as the site claimed it was a “counter to woke culture”. Root claimed the platform’s security was so feeble it
The WhiteDate, which has been described as ‘Tinder for Nazis’ matches users based on racist criteria, claims that it was made to “counter woke culture”. Root, however, claimed that the platform’s security was so weak that “would make even your grandma’s AOL account blush”.
WhiteChild, on the other hands, targets white supremacists seeking specific egg and sperm donors; and WhiteDeal operated as a gig-style labour marketplace for like-minded individuals, it has been reported. All three wesbites were still offline days after the demonstration.
“I infiltrated a racist dating site and made nazis fall in love with robots,” Root reportedly said, adding that action was born of frustration with the sites’ role in cultivating hate-based networks.
During her presentation, Root walked the audience through AI-driven tools to bypass racial verification checks on the sites and extract publicly available user information. The data, which Root published online, revealed tens of thousands of user profiles, including photos, ages and precise geolocation data embedded in images, highlighting both lax security and the risks associated with using such platforms.
Before destroying the platforms, Root had deployed a chatbot trained to conduct conversations in the manner of the far right to gain users’ trust and collect as much information as possible before the admin noticed the platform had been breached.
The prompt for the model instructed it to demonstrate interest in “traditional family roles and heritage,” communicate amiably, and avoid sharing contact details before a personal meeting.
In an online post, the administrator of the three sites reportedly condemned the takedown and labelled it as “cyber-terrorism”, it was reported.
Supporters of Root’s actions frame the intervention as a form of direct digital activism against organised hate, while critics warn that unilateral takedowns of this kind raise legal and ethical questions about vigilantism in cyberspace.
