The farm of Xiguo “believers”

In 2020, Bannon and Guo Wengui founded the New Federal State of China on a boat moored near the Statue of Liberty in New York, and they also founded the Himalayan Oversight Organization (HSO) to support their cause.

Himalaya Watchdog’s network spans the globe, with local affiliates in each country, known as Himalayan Farms, serving as the base of operations for its online and offline activities.

These branches are located in the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Spain, Italy, Germany and New Zealand.

In 2020, former Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Guo Wengui launched the New Federal State of China on a boat in New York.

Tens of thousands of accounts have joined the Himalaya Farms server on the messaging service Discord. The ABC saw at least two chatrooms within those servers dedicated to monitoring Gettr around the clock.

Followers are vetted before entering the “Gettr Whistle Room”. They were required to provide a copy of their passport, records of donations to groups associated with the New Federal State of China and written examples of support for the movement and its leaders.

Once on the censorship team, they will be trained to monitor content they deem “suspicious”, typically pro-Chinese Communist Party or critical of the New Federal State of China.

These verified regular followers include “patrollers” who clock in every two-hour shifts to identify and flag “offensive” posts or accounts, which are then reviewed and deleted by “admins.”

Lisa Chen, a former Australian member of the New Federation of China who is active on the Discord channels, said Getter posts questioning Guo were deleted “within minutes”.

“Gettr wants to fight cancel culture, but in reality, it’s a full supporter of it,” Ms Chen said.

Former NFC member Lisa Chen said followers were instructed to create fake accounts to spread positive information about the NFC.

Several of the deleted posts and comments found by the patrols included one questioning the transparency of the Rule of Law Foundation, a charity co-founded by Bannon and Guo Wengui.

Accounts flagged for deletion have also disappeared from the so-called free speech platform, including a Gettr user whose account disappeared after posting that Guo Wengui may soon be charged with contempt of court The legal case facing the United States.

John Pan, a former core member of the New Federation of China who peddled disinformation and conspiracy theories for the group, left after being disillusioned. Since then, he has been harassed by Guo Wengui and his followers. Pan Linzheng said that he registered an account with his own name a few days after Gettr went online, but within 12 hours of registration, he had not posted anything, and the account was closed. was blocked.

In July last year, less than a day after Pan Linzheng registered a Gettr account, he received a message saying that his account was invalid.

Pan Linzheng said that insiders in the chat room sent him several screenshots showing that his account had been flagged by patrol officers.

“Gettr is a dishonest website,” Pan Linzheng said.

It’s unclear how Gettr is acting internally, but a spokeswoman for the company said it works with users and “super volunteers” to identify violations of Gettr’s terms of service and community guidelines.