In 2013, a series of disinformation campaigns were spread on Twitter, primarily targeting black women. The manipulation tactics developed during these campaigns served as a blueprint for future movements like Gamergate and continue to be shared across anonymous message boards and far-right blogs, shaping the online world. If social media platforms and owners of message boards had responded differently to the 2013 campaigns, their actions could probably have prevented Gamergate and we would be living in a very different world today.

It all began with hashtags.