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Thot Audit
Overview
Thot Audit, also known as #ThotAudit, is an online campaign urging people to report online sex workers to the IRS so that they would be audited for unreported income. The operation was widely circulated members of 4chan's /pol/ board (also known there as Right Wing Tax Squads or /RWSS/) in late November 2018.
Background
On November 22nd, 2018, Facebook user David Wu posted a poll asking "Is 'sex-work' real work? How would you guys consider it?"
The following day, Facebook user Kuba Zucc'd replied to the poll, saying he used similar polls to discover sex workers to "report them to the IRS and local law enforcement" (shown below).
Developments
Online Reaction
On November 23rd, 2018, Twitter user @samathasaffert[1] tweeted that her "premium Snapchat" had been reported to the IRS and that she was being audited (shown below).
That day, a screenshot of the tweet was submitted to the /pol/[2] board on 4chan, where users discussed reporting "twitch thots/premium snapchat sluts" to the IRS for tax evasion (shown below). Within 72 hours, the post gained over 380 replies.
That day, Twitter user @kxttybean[5] tweeted a warning to her friends "who run premium Snapchats" about the IRS reports (shown below).
On November 24th, 2018, YouTuber The Thinkery uploaded a video titled "The #ThotAudit Has Begun," which discussed the raid (shown below). That day, Redditor kxbuevofdbHuttx submitted a post asking about memes referencing the campaign to /r/OutOfTheLoop, [6] to which Redditor Deus_Fucking_Vult replied with a "backstory" describing David Wu's previous online arguments with sex workers.
Meanwhile, David Wu posted screenshots of messages on Facebook,[3] claiming Belle Delphine contacted him regarding her taxes (shown below). Within 48 hours, the post gained over 1,000 reactions and 400 shares.
Also on November 24th, Roosh V tweeted a screenshot from the IRS.gov "Whistleblow – Informant Award" page, pointing out that those who report tax fraud to the IRS can receive up to 30% of the amount collected (shown below).[7]
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – @samanthasaffert
[2] Archive.is – /pol/ thread
[3] Facebook – David Wu Belle Delphine post
[4] Facebook – David Wu poll
[5] Twitter – @kxttybean
[6] Reddit – /r/OutOfTheLoop
