Operation Autism Storm / CNN Meme War

Overview

Operation Autism Storm, also known as the Great CNN Meme War, is a 4chan operation urging participants to spread anti-CNN image macros, videos and animated GIFs in retaliation for the news network threatening to dox a Redditor for posting a GIF of Donald Trump bodyslamming the CNN logo in early July 2017.

Background

On July 4th, CNN^[3] published an article by senior editor Andrew Kaczynski, who claimed he had tracked down the Reddit user who allegedly created a GIF tweeted by Donald Trump two days (shown below).

While the article did not reveal the Redditor's identity, Kaczynski clearly stated that "CNN reserves the right to publish his identity” if he continued to “repeat this ugly behavior on social media again.”

On July 5th, 2017, an anonymous 4chan user posted instructions for Operation Autism Storm, urging viewers to unite with various subreddits to engage in a "meme war" with CNN by spreading anti-CNN, boycott the news network's advertisers and discredit their journalists (shown below).

Developments

Online Reaction

That day, Redditor VisionaryPrism submitted a screenshot of the Operation Autism Storm 4chan post to /r/the_donald,^[4] where it gathered upwards of 8,900 points (95% upvoted) and 500 comments within 24 hours.

On July 6th, Redditor KaosChrysor21 submitted a photoshopped picture of a NROL-39 badge with a green Pepe the Frog octopus accompanied by the caption "Operation Autism Storm" to /r/dankmemes,^[1] where it gained more than 1,000 points (96% upvoted) and 45 comments within eight hours.

Andrew Kaczynski Protest

On July 5th, conservative journalist Mike Cernovich tweeted that a protest was planned to be held in front of Andrew Kaczynski's home (shown below).^[2] That day, BuzzFeed^[6] reported that Kaczynski and his family had received numerous death threats.

InfoWars Contest

On July 5th, InfoWars^[5] published an article announcing a prize of $20,000 for the "best meme" in the "Great CNN Meme War."

The following day, InfoWars host Paul Joseph Watson posted a compilation of anti-CNN clips and GIFs titled "Trump vs CNN: Ultimate Meme Compilation" on YouTube (shown below). That day, the video received upwards of 116,000 views and 1,700 comments.

Search Interest

External References