A group of internet trolls is threatening to report sex workers to the IRS.
It all began on Sunday when the hashtag #ThotAudit began to circulate on Twitter thanks to blogger Daryush Valizadeh, according to Newsweek. Valizadeh claimed the movement was started by a Facebook user known as David Wu. The #ThotAudit movement calls on men to report women who make money from social media accounts used to send sexual videos and pictures to the IRS, arguing that the women are dodging taxes.
The man who started #ThotAudit is named David Wu. He has cemented his place in Valhalla. Godspeed to you, young man. https://t.co/BUNhdsESyh
— Roosh (@rooshv) November 25, 2018
If you report a thot to the IRS and they collect taxes from her, you can receive up to 30% of that amount. There is actually a financial incentive to defeating thottery. pic.twitter.com/3BxAldTpFC
— Roosh (@rooshv) November 24, 2018
The hashtag caught on with right-wing trolls, misogynists and incels, or involuntarily celibate men, with clearly too much time on their hands.
Yeah sex is cool but have you ever reported premium snapchats to the IRS so they get audited? #ThotAudit
#Patrolled— Ivan (@Ivankovitz) November 25, 2018
Thots finally getting what they deserve. #ThotAudit
— Part-Time IRS Informant (@DoubtItBuddy) November 24, 2018
David Wu is my new hero, I didn't think my week could be so entertaining and then #Thotaudit happens. What blows my mind is people defending tax fraud while they themselves are having to pay taxes. It's a system we all have to suffer through, no one gets a free pass.
— Gerardo Echevarria (@ThBiggest_Daddy) November 24, 2018
As the hashtag picked up steam, a number of allies made their support for sex workers known.
Reporting sex workers is trash, because y’all don’t really care about them paying taxes. You just needed a way to punish something you couldn’t stop. Your intentions came from a malicious place. Y’all plugs don’t pay taxes and you dgaf about that.
— La Reina (@BlaxicanBonita) November 24, 2018
Y’all treat sex workers like they’re an abomination but fund the sex work industry like where they do that at https://t.co/6T5Kz7nFtv
— breath of fresh Aries ???? (@ww3colorized) November 25, 2018
All sex workers do is mind they business and stack they coin but y’all wanna report them to the IRS smh.
— IS THERE A BUDGET? (@goldenpolaroid) November 24, 2018
the men who are the most bothered by sex workers are the men who are the most prime candidates and in need of their services. i guess it’s easier to turn that resentment outwards than accept what it says about them and their place in the mating hierarchy.
— CeciATL (@CeciATL) November 24, 2018
Just be honest and say y’all love abusers more than sex workers. Cus when yo homie out here smacking his gf, that’s none of yo business, you not a snitch. But find out a woman is selling nudes for rent and all of a sudden it’s your destiny to “expose” her.
— Legendary Plugwalker- Tiberius__6???????? (@Ilcapitano94) November 25, 2018
Despite the celebration among the incels, it would appear the trolls don’t have a leg to stand on. According to Motherboard, the IRS needs to know a lot of a person’s business for a report to be successful.
The agency requires reports to include a taxpayer identification number, a full legal name, the estimated amount of unreported income and a home address. Additionally, they cannot be made anonymously or under a pseudonym. Finally, all of that information has to be mailed in and is never accepted electronically.
Despite these strict guidelines, #ThotAudit rattled many sex workers, with some saying they've left the industry.
“I think it was all a big joke at first that went way out of hand, because now this large group of men are reporting sex workers to the IRS for tax evasion, and all of these women are shutting down their accounts now in fear that they’re going to be arrested for doing sex work,” an anonymous sex worker told Motherboard. “I don’t know if it actually matters or not, but a lot of girls are now losing their primary source of income because they’re afraid they’re going to get charged.”
Another woman, who relies on the online sale of content to pay her bills, said she's shut down her accounts. “I halted any and every subscription I had because I don’t want to get into any more trouble than I’ll already be in if it does go through."
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