Members of the online vigilante group Anonymous claim to have foiled an Islamic State terror attack on the nation of Italy.
In a post on their “OpParis” Twitter account, which was set up to coordinate Anonymous’ “cyberwar” against the Islamic State following the attacks in Paris earlier this year, the group issued the claim earlier today.
https://twitter.com/OpParisOfficial/status/681466183799975936
The claim was made after a series of tweets yesterday in which the OpParis account claimed that Anonymous had prevented an attack. Many of the messages were also posted in Italian. OpParis also promised a video to “satisfy curiosity.”
https://twitter.com/OpParisOfficial/status/681267925576224768
https://twitter.com/OpParisOfficial/status/681419406833004545
No other sources have corroborated the claims of Anonymous, who say they have been “working in silence” this month.
It has been over a month since Anonymous “declared war” on ISIS. After their heydey during the early 2010s, when they famously assisted Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring, Anonymous’ public profile faded somewhat. But their new campaign against ISIS has thrust them back into the media spotlight, particularly after their successful suspension of thousands of ISIS-supporting accounts from Twitter, a significant blow to the Islamic State’s online propaganda operation.
Anonymous also declared December 11th “ISIS trolling day” and rallied their supporters to post memes and jokes mocking the Islamic State. In another comedic incident, Anonymous defaced a terrorist-supporting website with an ad for Viagra. Their argument at the time was that such measures would counter the fear and terror that ISIS seeks to spread.
Other groups, however, have criticised Anonymous’ approach. A splinter group says attempts to ban or otherwise destroy the online presence of the Islamic State are counter-productive, and that terrorists’ online networks should instead be infiltrated by vigilantes, who can pass on information to security agencies.
Follow Allum Bokhari @LibertarianBlue on Twitter, and download Milo Alert! for Android to be kept up to date on his latest articles.
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