The right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Moms for Liberty (M4L) decided to team up with the Trump Administration to create a website “snitch line” allowing people to report K-12 schools that have DEI practices and programs. Shortly after its launch, it was flooded by spam messages designed to waste investigators’ time.
Last Thursday, the Trump Administration announced it would partner with M4L to launch EndDEI.ed.gov, allowing visitors to submit a form to report any “divisive ideologies and indoctrination” within K-12 schools. The press announcement about the website’s launch called school DEI initiatives “illegal discriminatory practices at institutions of learning.”
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Almost all of the complaints have been “bogus,” the state auditor’s office said.
Critics touted the website as a snitch line, with Professor Michael Mann of the University of Pennsylvania commenting on Bluesky, “I believe Hitler had a program like this.”
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I believe Hitler had a program like this www.salon.com/2025/02/27/m…
— Michael E. Mann (@michaelemann.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 9:58 PM
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The website’s form allows people to submit their email address, the name of the school or school district they want to report, and its ZIP code. It also includes a text entry field enabling people to describe what they’re reporting in less than 450 words, and also a file uploader for images less than 10 MB.
Anyone who has been on the internet long enough could guess how this turned out. It did not take long for people to begin spamming the submission form with memes and other messages ridiculing the government.
One social media user made reports about the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the fictional school of magic featured in the Harry Potter children’s book series.
I reported Hogwarts, Florida extension, for letting in muggles, and Prof. Rowling for being an all-around terrible person. Seems only fair. Note they don't verify email addresses, so you can use Draco's. Hypothetically.
— Ruthanna Emrys (@r-emrys.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 11:02 AM
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Others submitted email addresses like “f**k@you.all” and uploaded the entire script for The Bee Movie script (a 2007 animated film that has been adopted as a throwaway meme).
I'm doing my part!
— Reyquiem (@reyquiem.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 9:28 AM
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This form lets anybody "report schools for teaching DEI" so it would be just awful if people uploaded other data to it: https://enddei.ed.gov/ It is a shame that the text box has a 450 word limit, meaning that if you want to include further […] [Original post on mastodon.benpettis.ninja]
— Ben Pettis (@bpettis.mastodon.benpettis.ninja.ap.brid.gy) February 28, 2025 at 3:48 PM
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One social media user said they disguised a plotline from an X-Men movie as a genuine report. X-Men is a science-fiction comic book superhero series set at Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Its storylines often involve children being kidnapped or sent on dangerous adventures.
I admit, I’m a little pleased with my contribution.
— Stephen Perdue (@staybunn.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 10:42 AM
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Another suggested reporting Elon Musk — the transphobic South African billionaire who has overseen the destruction of federal agencies under Trump — and calling Musk a “DEI hire.” Others suggested using the White House’s ZIP code to report infractions.
Whatever you do, DO NOT go to enddei.ed.gov and file a complaint about how Elon Musk has benefitted from DEI policies. Don't use the zip code 20500.
— Sage the Cat (@sagethecat.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 4:08 PM
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One Bluesky user found a major error in the form. Because it counts words instead of characters for its 450-word limit, anyone can override the word limit by avoiding using spaces. As such, one could send entire movie scripts or fan fiction as long as it was condensed into one extremely long word.
Who ever developed this needs to be fired. When you enter a message in the textarea, it has a limit of 450 WORDS, not letters. Meaning you can put an unlimited amount of text in the message box if it's all one word. Here's 200,000 words of "Loren ipsum" condensed into one word to bypass it:
— Peter (@hellopeter.dev) February 28, 2025 at 9:43 AM
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Another suggested that they would use this workaround to submit the entire text of My Immortal, a Harry Potter-based fan fiction that was published in serial format between 2006 and 2007.
Putting My Immortal as my submission
— Ash Dawn (@ashdawnnui.bsky.social) March 1, 2025 at 7:29 PM
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People also made use of the file upload option in various ways.
Some suggested using the file upload option for more malicious practices, including sending zip bombs, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and other malicious cyber crimes meant to overwhelm computer systems and disable their processing ability.
Of course, the submission of any malicious files on a gov website could be viewed as an attempted cyber attack with serious legal consequences. Other social media users urged individuals outside the U.S. to use a virtual private network (VPN) when submitting a report to help falsely alter their computer’s geo-location data, making their submissions appear more authentic.
If you have a VPN you can do this even if you live outside the US. And remember, make your submission look legit on the surface, so it wastes their time more.
— Beffi (@beffi.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 12:03 PM
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PinkNews reported that the “snitch line” website” had shut down. However, it remained online as of the morning of Tuesday, March 4.
Why Moms for Liberty has been a designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group
While M4L claims to focus on so-called “parents’ rights” in schools, it has been designated as an extremist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). That’s because M4L has repeatedly sought to ban books that promote racial inclusivity and pro-LGBTQ+ themes, along with similar school programs and initiatives which it labels “woke indoctrination.”
The group has also come under heavy scrutiny on multiple occasions, notably in 2023 when an Indiana chapter used a quote from Adolf Hitler in their inaugural newsletter. Members of M4L have also allegedly harassed and threatened school board members and others who oppose their agenda.
Nicole Prussman of the Monroe County Pennsylvania chapter of M4L began harassing and sending death threats to a woman running an anti-M4L Facebook group. Prussman then started using the Facebook profile of a deceased woman to continue harassing the woman after she blocked Prussman’s personal profile. Prussman was eventually convicted of harassment and ordered to pay a $200 fine.
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