Social media users mobilize to inundate tip line seeking Texas abortion law violations with spam

The digital protest reportedly flooded the website with memes and false reports.

A website seeking anonymous tips on people violating Texas' new law restricting abortions has been inundated with spam after viral calls from social media users. The law, which went into effect on Wednesday, bans physicians from providing abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected (including embryonic cardiac activity). This can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. While the law prohibits the state from enforcing the ban, it instead authorizes private citizens to bring civil suits against anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion. A "whistleblower" website set up by the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life calls on community members to anonymously report anyone they think might be violating the law -- which can even include a driver taking someone to a clinic. As the online submission form spread across the internet, scores of social media users from TikTok to Twitter reacted by calling on people to flood the tip line with anything but violators.