In a dramatic display of digital activism, a hacktivist operating under the pseudonym Martha Root remotely deleted three prominent white supremacist websites live on stage during a talk at the annual Chaos Communication Congress (39C3) in Hamburg, Germany, last week. The targeted sites—WhiteDate, WhiteChild, and WhiteDeal—have remained offline since the incident, which also saw Root publish a trove of user data allegedly scraped from WhiteDate.
Dressed as the Pink Ranger from the Power Rangers, Martha Root executed the real-time server deletion at the conclusion of a presentation titled "The Heartbreak Machine: Nazis in the Echo Chamber." Root was joined by German journalists Eva Hoffmann and Christian Fuchs, who had previously co-authored an investigative article about the hacked sites for the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit in October.
The deleted platforms served various functions within the white supremacist ecosystem. WhiteDate was described by Hoffmann as a "Tinder for Nazis," while WhiteChild claimed to facilitate connections for white supremacist sperm and egg donors. WhiteDeal functioned as a labor marketplace, akin to a "Taskrabbit for racists."
Administrator Condemns "Cyberterrorism"
The administrator of the three websites quickly confirmed the breach on their social media accounts, expressing outrage at the public deletion.
“They publicly delete all my websites while the audience rejoices. This is cyberterrorism,” the administrator wrote on X on Sunday, vowing repercussions. The administrator also claimed Root had briefly deleted their X account before its restoration.
Data Leak Reveals "Poor Cybersecurity Hygiene"
Following the live deletion, Root published data allegedly scraped from WhiteDate, highlighting severe security vulnerabilities. The hacktivist noted "poor cybersecurity hygiene that would make even your grandma’s AOL account blush," pointing out that user images often contained precise geolocation metadata. This, Root stated, "practically hands out home addresses with a side of awkward selfies."
“Imagine calling yourselves the ‘master race’ but forgetting to secure your own website — maybe try mastering to host WordPress before world domination,” Root quipped.
The leaked data includes user profiles with names, pictures, descriptions, age, location (both precise coordinates and user-set country/state), gender, language, race, and other personal information. Root clarified that, for now, the leak does not include emails, passwords, or private conversations.
Analysis of the scraped data revealed that WhiteDate had over 6,500 users, with a stark gender imbalance: 86% men and 14% women. Root humorously remarked, “A gender ratio that makes the Smurf village look like a feminist utopia.”
AI Chatbots Used for Infiltration
According to the talk's abstract, Root successfully infiltrated the websites by deploying AI chatbots. These chatbots were able to bypass verification processes and gain "white" status on the platforms, demonstrating a novel method of digital penetration.
DDoSecrets Receives "WhiteLeaks" Data
DDoSecrets, a nonprofit collective dedicated to storing leaked datasets in the public interest, announced it has received "files and user information" from the three white supremacist websites. Dubbing this release "WhiteLeaks," the collective has opted not to make the full 100-gigabyte dataset publicly available. Instead, DDoSecrets is requiring verified journalists and researchers to request access, ensuring responsible handling of sensitive information.
TechCrunch, which reported on the incident, attempted to contact the website administrator via email addresses displayed during the conference talk and found in public domain records, but received no immediate response.
Root, Hoffmann, and Fuchs claim to have identified the real identity of the websites' administrator as a woman from Germany. However, TechCrunch was unable to independently confirm this identity.
