Page 15 - auatraveller
P. 15
HACK GROUP “ANONYMOUS” TARGETS
ISIS SUPPORTERS ON TWITTER
HACKTIVIST group Anonymous is ramping up ef- girl in connection with the group’s name and slogans
in an attempt to dilute the results people get when they
forts to tackle sympathisers of the Islamic State group search for information about the group.
on Twitter.
It has published a list of Twitter accounts it claims are The Anonymous action comes after UK Prime Minis-
spreading propaganda in support of the group.Some ter David Cameron unveiled a strategy to help tackle
accounts have been flooded with images of Japanese the “poison” of extremism. The package of measures
anime characters to try to influence search engine included demands that ISPs and net firms do more to
results for phrases connected to IS. remove extremist material and identify who posted it.
Many other accounts have been suspended or shut It is not clear how much effect the action by Anonymous
down as a result of the group’s actions. and others is having on the work IS does to spread its
message online. One study released earlier this year
NO SOLUTION estimated that the group and its sympathizers control
more than 90,000 Twitter accounts.
As well as targeting Twitter accounts, the operation
also sought to take down Facebook pages, blogs, web- “The action is both he said, adding that such a large takedown can un-
sites and web proxies used by supposed IS supporters. positive and negative,” doubtedly have an impact.
The publication of the list is the latest in a series of said Rashad Ali, a senior fellow at the Institute for “However,” he said, “it’s not a solution because what
“operations” by Anonymous and others hacktivist orga- Strategic Dialogue which works on ways to counter we now need to do is not just take down accounts but
nizations against the IS group and its online supporters. extremism. actually provide new narratives for people. “This is
The list of more than 750 Twitter accounts that Anony- where we are failing,” he said.
mous has taken action against was published on the
Pastebin website. Top of the list were accounts that had “Practically speaking, “We have not had a strong,
more than 10,000 followers, it said, but many others you are getting rid of a thought-out counter-argument
with smaller numbers of readers were also targeted. whole host of people from
to IS’s message.”
Some accounts that Anonymous members won access the public domain,”
to had their messages and images changed to show the 15INTERNATIONAL
ISIS-Chan anime character. Groups tackling IS propa-
ganda online are starting to use images of the young
ARUBA TRAVELLER - Wednesday, July 22 2015
