Fashtag

Part of a series on OK Symbol 👌. [View Related Entries]

Updated Nov 06, 2024 at 11:30AM EST by LiterallyAustin.

Added May 28, 2019 at 10:40AM EDT by Don Caldwell.

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

This entry contains content that may be considered sensitive to some viewers.

About

Fashtag is a hoax orchestrated by members of 4chan's and 8chan's /pol/ boards attempting to trick people into thinking the "hashtag": is an alt-right hate symbol as part of a campaign known as "Operation Bash the Hash."

Origin

On April 6th, 2019, Steam Community ^[5] user FunkyMunkyAus posted a photoshopped version of the Nazi flag that replaced the swastika with a hashtag (shown below). They named the piece "#FASHTAG."

Spread

The following day, Gab ^[6] user @darngribbit posted the image with the caption, "I'm all for some 4chan pranks. Recently clowns have been deemed a white supremacist symbol. We can expect to see clowns be deemed Nazis in the coming months. I say we all take it a step further and move towards making HASHTAGS racist now" (shown below, left).

On May 23rd, 2019, an anonymous user submitted a thread titled "New meme op" to the /pol/ (politics) board on 8chan, which called for viewers to help spread images declaring the hashtag a "new alt-right hate symbol" (shown below, right).

#FreeSpeechRevolution @darngribbit 2months ago edited I'm all for some 4chan pranks. Recently clowns have been deemed a white supremacist symbol. We can expect to see clowns be deemed Nazis in the coming months. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v-YZksWPLPv14 I say we all take it a step further and move towards making HASHTAGS racist now. We must secure the existence of 4chan pranks and a future for pepe memes I'm not racist in the slightest but I love seeing the media and the left brick themselves over things like this. (photo courtesy of @FunkyMunky)

New meme op Anonymous 05/23/19 (Thu) 19:17:50 ID: 8fe39c No.13313158 1331316213313175 13313313 13313403 THE NEW ALT-RIGHT HATE SYMBOL 913314726 >13314743 >13315808 >13315931 >>13316659 13316786 13317640 [Watch Threadl [Show All Posts] We've subverted many things using meme magic. So far, we've made >milk a natzee drink >the OK sign a white power symbol >the rainbow a hate symbol >clowns hate symbols pepe the frag a hate symbol >etc Most of these are listed on the SPLC, meaning that we did the job properly. But if we really wanna mess the internet up, the # must become the new hate symbol of the right. It will be effective because it's a staple of the modern internet culture and everyone uses it - and that means our memeing of it will drastically intensify Jewish schizophrenia. 14#, Anons

The following day, the same post was submitted to 4chan's /pol/ board,^[2] where it gathered upwards of 130 replies prior to being archived.

On May 26th, 2019, YouTuber Conservative With a Mic uploaded a video discussing the hoax (shown below).

[This video has been removed]

That day, Redditor KaliforniaX posted a photoshopped picture of a fake CNN report on the symbol, featuring a chyron with the question "The 'Fashtag', Alt-Rights New Hate Symbol?" to /r/The_Donald^[3] (shown below). The post was subsequently removed for being "misleading or inaccurate."

MEMORIAL DAY ON CNN ED A COMEDY SPECIAL COLIN QUINN RED STATE BLUE STATE ET THE "ALT-RIGHT" THE "FASHTAG", ALT-RIGHTS NEW HATE SYMBOL? LCAN 6:16 PMET UNFILTERED

Meanwhile, Urban Dictionary^[4] user Coronatus submitted an entry for "fashtag," defining it as "a hate symbol used by neo-nazis and the racist alt-right" (shown below).