Trigger warning: Mentions of racial and sexual violence

WhiteDate, advertised as a “dating platform for white people with traditional values,” is a white supremacist, neo-eugenicist, ethnonationalist propaganda network impersonating a dating app. An investigation has revealed the presence of military and elected officials on this platform, posing a profound threat to global peace and security. Such individuals must be suspended from these positions effective immediately.

The WhiteDate homepage reads, “We are exclusive, not discriminatory. To learn about the difference, ask your local Country Club.” Or at least it did, until an anti-fascist hacker leaked over 8,000 profiles and 100GB of data at the Chaos Communication Congress (CCC), an annual hacking conference held in Hamburg, Germany. Of these accounts, 500 were based in Canada, with several holding ties to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

The hacker goes by the pseudonym ‘Martha Root,’ a nod to the 20th-century Bahá’íst revolutionary and peace activist. In a video posted on YouTube, Root describes how she infiltrated WhiteDate by creating profiles and linking them to AI chatbots, which she hand-programmed to engage in flirtatious texting conversations with users. 

After several months of covertly collecting data and information, Root leaked user information—including profile photos, metadata, GPS coordinates, and bios—live from the stage of the CCC conference, and then forced the website offline. All the leaked user information can be found on her website, ‘okstupid.lol.’ Root also shut down WhiteChild, a platform discouraging white people from having children with non-white people, and WhiteDeal, a freelancing site offering white-only contractors. The two websites were created by the same person who founded WhiteDate, Christiane Horn.

The WhiteDate eugenicist project relies on white supremacist dogwhistles to accomplish its aims. Even its headline, “For a Europid vision,” reproduces neo-Nazi, white ethnonationalist attitudes. The term ‘Europid’ was popularized by German anthropologist and physiologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, whose 1795 hierarchical classification system was foundational to 19th- and 20th-century biological determinism. Blumenbach also popularized degeneracy theory, arguing that the original, ‘perfect’ humans were white, and that all other races are ‘degenerations.’

Indisputable scientific and anthropological research confirms that human life originated from the Horn of Africa, and that race is not biological but socially constructed. Yet, white supremacist, pseudoscientific beliefs that promote the use of terms like ‘Europid’ continue to persist on sites like WhiteDate. 

Since the data leak, the CBC has identified three WhiteDate users as active military personnel: Brogan Hale, a Royal Canadian Navy reservist; Brandon Longpré, a corporal with the Governor General’s Foot Guards; and Tristan Armstrong, a major for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The presence of these individuals on WhiteDate poses a threat to both national and international peace and security. Members of the military hold access to weapons and secure intelligence, making their participation in white supremacist platforms an undeniable threat to public safety and human rights. In fact, the CAF’s Hateful Conduct Policy expressly forbids racism, discrimination, microaggression, and hate propaganda; even social media posts promoting discriminatory violence or hatred are prohibited. Yet, Navy reservist Brogan Hale has posted numerous times calling for the use of “bioweapons that target non-whites.” Air Force Major Tristan Armstrong has stated that “the ideal woman is childlike,” and that Korean women “want” to be raped to “get sex without being a slut.” 

These incidents all predated the data leak, yet the Canadian Armed Forces have not instituted disciplinary action or consequence, allowing perpetrators of hateful conduct and racist extremism to remain employed, their salary paid for by tax dollars. This inaction is only to the detriment of these military institutions’ legitimacy. The Canadian government continues to hire, pay, promote, and arm individuals so starkly in violation of its ethics policies and so clearly dedicated to projects of white supremacy and eugenics. 

Since the data leak, international disgust with the platform and its users has led to discrete action to remove some of these individuals from public office. For example, after Lillith Osborn, British Conservative Councillor for Glastonbury, Somerset, was discovered among users implicated in the data leak, she was promptly suspended from her position. Canada must follow suit. Removing these individuals from positions of power is the absolute minimum of necessary action governments must take to protect the human rights and security of racialized individuals and prevent the increasing spread of fascist, white supremacist thought.