Users of a far-right social media platform seem to have been among the many rioters who breached Capitol Hill on Wednesday (Jan. 6), according to GPS metadata linked to the social media posts of the chaos.
As Gizmodo reported, Twitter user @donk_enby archived posts from Parler the day of the siege and eventually saved all of its content, which included videos along with the users’ locations. The publication then analyzed the data, mapping out all the posts from the Parler office and separating those shared near Capitol Hill on Jan. 6. The 618 videos that were discovered showed multiple views of the users’ journeys from the Trump protest at the National Mall to Capitol Hill where they forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol, running wild in hopes to overturn election results and keep Donald Trump in office.
In one of the clips posted by a Parler user, rioters wearing red MAGA hats spewed negative words about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Another video shows advocates of the president chanting the words, “Whose House? Our House?” The data also indicated the members were near the House and Senate chambers, but could not be determine their exact locations in the building. The GPS coordinates — which are only accurate up to an approximate distance of 12 yards — will be passed on to the FBI, who hopes to discover other individuals involved in the siege.
As REVOLT reported, the government agency suspected that some Capitol Police and other staff granted the rioters’ entry into the U.S. Capitol. The officer captured taking a selfie with Trump supporters was later suspended alongside a cop who guided rioters around the building all in his MAGA hat. About 10 to 15 other Capitol Police officers are now under investigation to determine their role in last week’s siege, according to House Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Rep. Tim Ryan.