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A professor of journalism at Temple University is accused of anonymously posting anti-Muslim and conspiracy theory-inspired comments on news websites, according to Philly.com. The professor, Francesca Viola, was named as the commenter behind the “truthseeker” account on the cross-website commenting platform Disqus last week, in a Twitter post by Joshua Benton, director of Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab. Viola then reportedly accused Benton of “doxxing” her, saying in a statement that she disputes “the incorrect attributions and specious allegations.” She added, “I consider this a personal defamatory attack as well as an attempt to silence academic freedom and people everywhere. Most importantly, as an investigation is now underway, I would ask the community not to assume I am the author of some or all of those comments.”
Benton rejected the allegations of “doxxing,” or releasing private or identifying information about Viola, saying in his own statement that Viola “voluntarily logged into a commenting service and left a comment on our site using her Temple email address.” He added, “All I did was click one link to see all the other comments she had posted using her Temple email address.” One of the most controversial comments Viola is accused of making is “Scum. Deport them. They hate us. Get rid of them.” It appeared on Gateway Pundit, following a 2017 story claiming that Muslims praying in front of Trump Tower were “working on their Islamic takeover.”
David Boardman, dean of Temple’s Klein College of Media and Communication, said that Viola “has admitted to writing some but not all of these posts and specifically denies writing the post that is derogatory of Muslim protesters, a comment we find particularly abhorrent,” Philly.com reported. “We are troubled by the content of some of the other cited posts but acknowledge that those in the Temple community are entitled to exercise free speech within constitutional parameters.”
