TX Anti-Abortion Group’s Whistleblower Site Flooded With Troll Tips; GoDaddy Gives Them 24 Hours Before Cutting Off Service

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The anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life has been on the receiving end of a double whammy this week as a website it operates has been flooded with fake tips. Separately, GoDaddy has given the group 24 hours to find a new hosting provider after it says the group violated its terms of service.

Earlier this week, a highly restrictive anti-abortion law went into effect in Texas. The legislation relies on private citizens to police its ban on abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected – around six weeks into the pregnancy. It allows “any person, other than an officer or employee of a state or local governmental entity in this state” to sue any person who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion.”

Winning plaintiffs can receive $10,000, but many legal scholars say the law is unconstitutional.

In light of the new law, Texas Right to Life set up a website to solicit tips where visitors can snitch on Texans who they think helped women get abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. This can even include an Uber or Lyft driver who takes a woman to a clinic to get an abortion. In response, both companies have said they will cover the legal offenses of drivers who are sued under the new law.

As VICE has reported, the site was soon inundated with fake tips by users hoping to gum up at the works. That prompted Texas Right to Life to block certain out of state IP addresses from entering information.

But one TikTok user and developer created a script that allows users who aren’t tech savvy to not only circumvent the block, but automatically enter a “tip” for the user.

@black_madness21Reply to @black_madness21 #texas #abortion #gregabbott♬ original sound – Sean Black

In another headache for Texas Right to Life, on Thursday evening hosting provider GoDaddy told the organization it has 24 hours to find a new provider. The company said the group violated its terms of service against collecting nonpublic information about individuals without their “prior written consent.”

A spokesperson for GoDaddy told The New York Times, “We have informed prolifewhistleblower.com they have 24 hours to move to another provider for violating our terms of service.”

As of this writing on Friday night, the site is operational and appears to still be hosted by GoDaddy.