Dear readers of the MPD Blog:

Imagine being targeted by a neo-Nazi. Imagine having daily panic attacks and being afraid to answer the phone.

That’s exactly what Tanya Gersh, a Jewish woman from Whitefish, Montana, experienced after she was singled out for a massive “troll storm” orchestrated by neo-Nazi leader Andrew Anglin.

Anglin, founder and editor of the Daily Stormer — the largest neo-Nazi website on the internet — published 30 articles urging his racist, antisemitic followers to harass and intimidate Gersh and her family.

She and her family received more than 700 threatening emails, texts, letters, phone calls and postcards, including a horrifying image of her 12-year-old son being crushed by a Nazi tank.

We sued Anglin on Tanya’s behalf in 2017 – and thanks to determined supporters like you, WE WON. Just weeks ago, after a two-year legal battle, a judge ordered Anglin to pay $14 million in damages — the largest award of its kind!

It’s a critical victory. This ruling sends a powerful message to other extremists that “weaponizing” the internet will not be tolerated. Anglin and his vile followers learned that there is no First Amendment right to harassment and intimidation.

More than four decades ago, we pioneered the use of civil litigation to decimate the Ku Klux Klan. Since then, we’ve bankrupted 10 of the country’s most notorious white supremacist groups with crushing court verdicts.

Now, we’re fighting a new generation of white supremacists – and this ruling establishes protection against intimidation on a new battleground, the internet.

Your support is the greatest tool we have in our fight for justice. Thank you for sharing our vision.

Sincerely,

David Dinielli
Deputy Legal Director and lead counsel on Tonya’s case
Southern Poverty Law Center