U.S. Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina, along with several other politicians, were accused Monday, of being members of the Ku Klux Klan.
INDY Week originally reported that the accusations came from hacker group Anonymous, but the group later denied any affiliation with the list of alleged KKK members.
Anonymous is considered to be a hacktivist group, meaning that its members hack to support or condemn various social causes.
While Anonymous denies any relation to the accusations, the group announced last month that it plans to release its own list of alleged members. The group claims to have hacked twitter accounts associated with the KKK.
Anonymous calls its efforts to expose the KKK members “Operation KKK.”
“This account has NOT YET released any information. We believe in due diligence and will NOT recklessly involve innocent individuals,” said the Operation KKK twitter account.
Dan Coats, a U.S. Senator from Indiana and one of the accused, said in a statement on Twitter calling the accusation “baseless internet garbage of the worst kind.”
Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero was also one of the accused. On Facebook, Rogero said, “Given my background, my interracial family, my public record and my personal beliefs, this would be hilarious except that it is probably being seen by a lot of people who have no idea who I am.”
In a YouTube press release last Sunday, Anonymous directly addressed the KKK.
“We are stripping you of your anonymity. This is not a threat, but rather a promise. We never forgot your threats to the protestors in Ferguson, and we certainly never forgave you. ”
The group plans on releasing their official list Thursday.
