Update on Anita Sarkeesian’s accusations of impropriety against the SFPD/FBI #GamerGate

Last week I posted about one of the issues of the ongoing #GamerGate controversy: namely, the rape and death threats that Anita Sarkeesian received on the 26th of August, and her accusations against “the authorities” (presumably the SFPD or FBI) for “victim blaming” by telling her that she should quit doing her critiques, if it was causing her to receive her death threats.  When I spoke to Officer Esparza (SFPD Media Relations) on the 11th of September, 2014, he noted that Miss Sarkeesian wasn’t showing up in his records, and he requested that she contact him with a case number.

Since that time, details have changed.  I’ve reached out to, Officer Esparza for comment, but have yet to hear back from him.  Polygon reports the following:

San Francisco police public information officer Albie Esparza told Polygon that Sarkeesian had filed a report with the police department about the threats she received online and that the police department handed the information to the FBI for investigation.

Esparza declined to release any other details, saying that doing so could compromise the investigation or the safety of the victim. He also noted that the FBI is the primary agency handling the case. An FBI spokesman told Polygon that the bureau’s policy is to neither confirm nor deny any investigation they may be conducting.

Earlier this month, Esparza told publications that there was no complaint on file from Sarkeesian. When asked why and how that changed this week, the spokesman said he sent out a statement on Friday saying that it was reported to the police department and then forwarded to the FBI for investigation. He did not further clarify why his original statement contradicted that information.

Important to note that the initial revelation – that the FBI had been contacted – was due to the efforts of another amateur journalist, rather than Kotaku itself.  The reply he received was equally vague, however:

Some voices in the peanut gallery have been demanding that I apologize, or that I retract my allegations (funny, that – I don’t seem to recall making any allegations), but this just goes to show what sort of child-like minds we’re dealing with.  This revelation about the FBI doesn’t answer all of our queries, rendering GamerGate nothing but a tinfoil-hat in neck-beard chic – quite the contrary, it compounds them!

For one thing, we’re left with new questions:

1. Is the SFPD investigating the allegations of impropriety on behalf of their officers?
2. Is the FBI investigating the death threats, the child porn, or both?
3. Previously, Esparza indicated that the SFPD would work in conjunction with outside agencies in the cases of death threats; were beat officers left ignorant of these threats, prior to inquiry?

As things stand, Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart is submitting a FOIA with the FBI, and hopefully some of these questions will be answered soon – but in the meantime, there are some conclusions which can be made about all of this.

Here is a partial list of the publications who wrote about the August 26th harassment and alleged police misconduct; it includes Canada.com, PC Gamer, and even The Guardian – did any of these mainstream, professional journalists bother to contact the SFPD?  Miss Sarkeesians allegations against ‘the authorities’ are on par with the incident in Toronto which led to a world-wide Slutwalk – and yet, by all indications these publications took her at face value, and didn’t bother to ask the SFPD what they’re putting in their morning coffee.  When myself and other GamerGate researchers contacted Officer Esparza, it seems like this was the first he’d heard of it – after all, none of the other publications mentioned his request for a case number.

This doesn’t undermine GamerGate – this vindicates it!

For the dum-dums:

• I am not accusing Miss Sarkeesian of manufacturing the death threats – though I am suspicious, and want this investigated.
• I am not accusing Miss Sarkeesian of lying about the police; this should be investigated as well.

The issue is not whether Miss Sarkeesian fabricated anything – the issue is that game journalism, as well as mainstream journalism, took her at face value and never investigated her claims.

The fellow in the above tweet, SJ Puckish Rogue, dismissed the question of journalistic integrity.

But whether or not he thinks this is newsworthy, The Guardian clearly thought it was – and as journalists, they have an ethical responsibility to investigate claims and to try and balance both sides of the story.

Since last week, Gaming Media has not disappointed in its propensity to disappoint.  I’ve had a number of people contact me about the incident in March, which Kotaku is just now getting around to reporting:

The March bomb threat came to my attention last week while I was investigating claims that Sarkeesian had misled the public about measures she’d taken in response to threats she’d allegedly received in August, following the publication of her latest video about women in gaming. Sarkeesian had tweeted early this month that she’d notified the police about new, vicious threats.

Bang-up job, guys.  Could this have been the part of my conversation with Esparza that alerted you?

Esparza: Right, so I do have a report for Ms. Sarkeesian was a victim of threats as well, but this was back in March of this year. So that’s the only record I found. But there’s nothing as of yet for August.

This is getting fishier by the minute – and that’s not even mentioning GameJournoPros, the secret mailing list with a Social Justice slant, or the recent noise about moot of 4chan having some sort of relationship with these people.

I’d much appreciate your folks’ support for my and Jordan Owen’s upcoming film The Sarkeesian Effect: Inside the World of Social Justice Warriors; help us blow these people out of the water.