OUT OF THE SHADOWS

Twitter Ordered to Unmask User Who Spawned Seth Rich Murder Conspiracy

The social-media company has tried to keep the real identity of the user secret, but a judge says it’s time to hand over the info.

Twitter must reveal the identity of an anonymous user who allegedly fabricated FBI documents about the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich and passed them to Fox News, a federal judge in California has ruled. The Twitter user @whyspertech is accused of providing faked documents to Fox News, which falsely linked Rich’s 2016 murder to the WikiLeaks hack of Democratic Party emails in the run-up to the presidential election. Twitter has tried to keep the real identity of the user secret, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu has ordered that the company must turn over the information to lawyers representing Rich’s family in a defamation suit. Fox News falsely claimed that Rich leaked thousands of Democratic emails to WikiLeaks, and that his killing was related to the purported leak. The network later retracted the story.