Two Bungie employees took threats and harassment from various players to court, revealing that they had been called and texted on personal phone numbers by far-right bigots demanding "an 'N-word killing' DLC to be added to Destiny 2."
These employees received distressing threats, calls, texts, and tweets. One stalker also ordered a pizza for their home: "A person using the same telephone number as the anonymous caller ordered a pizza to the employees' same address." Superior Court Justice Fred Myers said (as reported by The Record). "Not surprisingly, the use of the employees' home address frightened them. They called the local police and made a report."
Another Destiny 2 player going by the alias Inkcel also tweeted a picture of a Bungie employee's ID card, but that wasn't all. This same harasser also claimed to have "moved to live 30 minutes from the employee". Inkcel also doxxed them, sharing their full name on Twitter while adding that the employee "is not safe."
"The similarity of the name 'Inkcel' to the term 'incel' makes the threats more frightening to the (employees) as well," the judge added. "The term 'incel' stands for 'involuntary celibate' and refers to a violent misogynist ideology espoused by some who identify themselves with that term."
Employees also voiced concerns that being doxxed would lead to swatting. If you don't know what that is, it's when someone calls the police and puts in a tip severe enough to warrant a swat team breaking into the home to arrest the victim. This has been done time and time again to Twitch streamers, often live so that the swatter can see it happening in real-time. People have even died as a result of swatting, so it's certainly understandable why employees would be concerned.
The aforementioned demands for a Destiny 2 DLC came from someone "who called himself 'Brian'." According to Myers, he "left a voice mail on the personal telephone line of the employee who posted the ads. Brian referred to the employee by name and requested that Destiny 2 provide a scene or a downloadable piece of the game (DLC) for 'N-word killing'. A few minutes later he called back and identified himself as a member of a far-right-wing social network known to publish material that is censored from mainstream social media."
Due to the harassment, two employees pushed for an "urgent and confidential" court order demanding TextNow name the customers making these threats. The judge has agreed and ordered TextNow, the company that collects email addresses, phone numbers, text logs, IP addresses, and more, to reveal the identities of those responsible. TextNow said, "From time to time, we receive lawful requests for information. We comply with all valid requests as required by law."
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