ATLANTA – Once again, the Southern Poverty Law Center is taking aim at neo-Nazis — this time in a rare lawsuit accusing an online publisher of urging anonymous internet trolls to unleash a torrent of anti-Semitic slurs and harassment against a Jewish real estate agent in Montana.
The center filed a federal lawsuit in a case involving white nationalist Richard Spencer and his family, alleging that Andrew Anglin, founder and publisher of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, let loose an online "terror campaign" against the woman and her family.
The suit alleges that Anglin published a string of articles urging his "horde" of anonymous followers to inflict a "troll storm" on Tanya Gersh and her family, invading her privacy, intentionally inflicting emotional distress and violating the Montana Anti-Intimidation Act.
The controversy began when Anglin accused Gersh of attempting to extort money from Spencer's mother.
Gersh, her husband and 12-year-old son received more than 700 "threatening" anti-Semitic and homophobic e-mails, calls, texts, social media comments and mail, the lawsuit alleges. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula, seeks compensatory and punitive damages. Amounts were not specified.
There has been an uptick in online trolling in the last decade, but lawsuits are rare, said Danielle Citron, a University of Maryland law professor.
Anglin did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
