‘Storm the Capitol’ used online 100,000 times in month before Washington DC riot

QAnon followers and militia groups reportedly considered their choice of weapons to bring

The term “Storm the Capitol” was mentioned 100,000 times on social media in the month before rioters attacked the federal building on the day of the electoral certification, a report has said.

According to The New York Times, Zignal Labs, a media insights company, revealed the phrase had been used 100,000 times in the 30 days preceding 6 January on platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The newspaper reported that mentions of the phrase were often associated in viral Twitter threads discussing logistical details on how to enter the building.

In other online discussions, some QAnon followers and militia groups reportedly considered their choice of weapons to bring to such an event, with a user on gab encouraging posters to “pack a crowbar”.

Another person reportedly asked in a separate thread: “Does anyone know if the windows on the second floor are reinforced?”

The report comes amid ongoing questions as to whether social media giants failed to stop the spread of misinformation which may have incited the mob, which then looted and vandalised the building and forced lawmakers to evacuate to safety.

During the riot, it became quickly apparent that the Capitol police force was outnumbered and unprepared for violent action as they became overwhelmed by rioters who forced their way into the Capitol.

However, organisations have since said that the indications of the Trump supporter's intent for violence surfaced online long before the violent mob erupted at the Capitol.

Last week, Buzzfeed News reported that Trump loyalists had expressed intentions to use physical force in their attempts to overturn the US election on a number of platforms.

"Extremists have for weeks repeatedly expressed their intentions to attend the 6 January protests, and unabashedly voiced their desire for chaos and violence online," Jared Holt, a visiting fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab, told the website.

“What we've witnessed is the manifestation of that violent online rhetoric into real-life danger.”

Advance Democracy, an independent, non-partisan research organisation, reportedly said signs of imminent violence were emitting from all corners of the Internet in the days leading up to the riot.

“On TheDonald, more than 50 per cent of the top posts on 4 January, 2021, about the 6 January Electoral College certification featured unmoderated calls for violence in the top five responses,” the organisation said.

According to The Times, many instances of communication did not appear to result in a broadly organised plan to take action, and it is unclear if any big money or coordinated fund-raising was behind the mobilisation.

Platforms have long attempted to find a balance in allowing the president and his supporters’ to push claims of election fraud on social media through the use of added warnings, but still faced calls to ban Mr Trump from using their networks.

Following hours of chaos, Mr Trump issued a statement telling the rioters to “go home in peace” before adding that he loved the mob, calling them “special”.

“We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You're very special. You've seen what happens you see the way, others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home and peace."

After enduring a 12 hour Twitter ban and being forced to delete the message, the president was permanently banned from the platform over the weekend.

Following the riots, Facebook also announced that Mr Trump would be removed from the site “indefinitely”.

Twitter said the action came in light of emerging “plans for future armed protests” on its platform including  “a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on 17 January 2021.”