Gay Nigger Association of America
| Company type | Collective |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet trolling, cybersecurity |
| Founded | 2002 |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Andrew "weev" Auernheimer (former president), Jaime "asshurtmacfags" Cochran (former president), "Meepsheep" (president), Daniel "JacksonBrown" Spitler, Leon Kaiser (spokesperson) |
| Products | Software tools, internet culture commentary wiki, software archive |
The Gay Nigger Association of America (GNAA) was an Internet trolling collective known for targeting major websites and public figures such as Slashdot, Wikipedia, CNN, former US president Barack Obama, Alex Jones, and influential bloggers. Their activities included releasing software tools, leaking screenshots and details about forthcoming operating systems, and managing a software archive alongside a wiki dedicated to internet culture commentary.
Members of GNAA also established Goatse Security, a grey hat cybersecurity group. In June 2010, Goatse Security revealed a security flaw that exposed email addresses of iPad users subscribed to AT&T's mobile data network. This incident led to the arrests of GNAA president weev and member "JacksonBrown".
Origins, known members and name
The organization was headed by a president. New media analyst Andrew Lih observed ambiguity regarding whether GNAA originated as a formal group or as a loosely connected network of online provocateurs united by the name to disrupt websites. Academics such as professor Jodi Dean and Ross Cisneros described the group as a coordinated anti-blogging trolling entity. Media outlets consistently identified GNAA as a collective.
Australian journalist Ginger Gorman reported that the GNAA president was "Meepsheep" from Colorado. Past presidents include security expert Jaime "asshurtmacfags" Cochran, co-founder of the hacking collective "Rustle League", and "timecop", who founded the anime fansub group "Dattebayo". Other notable members were former president Andrew "weev" Auernheimer, Daniel "JacksonBrown" Spitler, and spokesperson Leon Kaiser. The group maintained loose ties with the satirical wiki Encyclopedia Dramatica.
The group's provocative name was deliberately chosen to be offensive, provoking immediate concern and described as "spectacularly offensive". GNAA rejected accusations of racism and homophobia, explaining that the name was intended to challenge online conventions and was inspired by the 1992 Danish satirical blaxploitation film Gayniggers from Outer Space. In an interview, president Weev mentioned that the group once included a homosexual black male member.
Trolling
GNAA utilized diverse trolling tactics, such as "crapflooding" blog comment sections with repetitive copypasta messages. On Wikipedia, members crafted an article about their group while strictly adhering to Wikipedia's guidelines, effectively exploiting the platform's rules against itself. They also targeted various Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels through IRC flooding attacks.
The collective created shock sites embedded with malware; one example, "Last Measure," contained malicious software that generated endless pop-up windows displaying explicit or disturbing content. Additionally, they executed proof-of-concept attacks that occasionally interfered with the normal functioning of popular websites.
2000s
In July 2004, two individuals affiliated with the GNAA leaked images of the forthcoming Mac OS X version 10.4 to MacRumors. The following year, in June 2005, the group proclaimed the release of Mac OS X Tiger for Intel x86 processors, attracting media coverage. However, the ISO file they distributed through BitTorrent did not launch the operating system but instead displayed a disturbing image.
On February 3, 2007, GNAA managed to persuade CNN journalist Paula Zahn that "one in three Americans" believed Israeli agents were responsible for the September 11 attacks. CNN broadcasted a segment based on this fabricated claim, which included conversations about antisemitism and interviews with families of victims. Additionally, the GNAA website falsely asserted that more than 4,000 Jewish individuals were absent from work at the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Shortly after, on February 11, 2007, the GNAA targeted Barack Obama's presidential campaign website in an attack that caused their name to be prominently displayed on its homepage.
2010s
In January 2010, the GNAA utilized cross-protocol scripting—a technique combining cross-site scripting with inter-protocol exploitation—to overwhelm IRC channels on the Freenode network when users accessed compromised websites. They also took advantage of vulnerabilities in Firefox and Safari browsers to cause similar IRC channel flooding.
Following Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the group disseminated fabricated images and tweets depicting looting along the US East Coast. After issuing a press release regarding the event, mainstream news outlets covered how this hoax was orchestrated.
On December 3, 2012, GNAA was identified as responsible for a cross-site scripting attack on Tumblr that defaced thousands of blogs with messages promoting GNAA.
In January 2013, GNAA partnered with participants from 4chan to initiate the "#cut4bieber" trend on Twitter, which encouraged self-harm among fans of Justin Bieber.
Between 2014 and 2015, members of GNAA actively interfered with pro-Gamergate campaigns by obtaining administrative control over 8chan’s main Gamergate board, ultimately leading to its shutdown. They also leaked private information belonging to pro-Gamergate supporters.
On October 13, 2016, a GNAA member known as Meepsheep vandalized Wikipedia entries for Bill and Hillary Clinton by inserting pornographic images alongside a message supporting Donald Trump.
In August 2017, GNAA became involved in a dispute between Bumble employees and residents of an Austin apartment complex where Bumble was illegally headquartered. After tenants reached out to GNAA for assistance in retaliating, Bumble moved out of the building. The group took credit through a press release that was distributed via clickjacking across various websites.
Goatse Security
In December 2009, several GNAA members skilled in grey hat computer security research established "Goatse Security" to reveal security vulnerabilities. They adopted this new identity to separate themselves from GNAA and enhance their credibility.
By June 2010, Goatse Security attracted widespread attention after discovering at least 114,000 unsecured email addresses linked to early users of Apple's 3G iPad service. The data was obtained from AT&T’s servers by running a script that randomly generated ICC-IDs to retrieve associated email addresses. This incident triggered an FBI investigation.
The inquiry eventually resulted in the arrest of Andrew 'weev' Auernheimer—then serving as GNAA President—on unrelated drug charges following an FBI raid.
In January 2011, Auernheimer faced Department of Justice charges including conspiracy to gain unauthorized computer access and fraud. His co-defendant Daniel Spitler was released on bail and later pleaded guilty in June 2011 under a plea deal.
On November 20, 2012, Auernheimer was found guilty of identity fraud and conspiracy; however, on April 11, 2014, his convictions were overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit due to jurisdictional issues, resulting in his release.