Anonymous takes freedom of speech and freedom of the press very seriously. According to a report, the hacking group has taken down over 800 Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and other social media sites and email accounts, including those associated with the radical jihadist group ISIS, in response to the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris last month.
More on Anonymous
A group of hackers calling themselves Anonymous has become well known over the last few years for their exploits in hacking websites of governments, companies and other organizations. Their reputation is somewhat of a mixed bag, with many members wanted by law enforcement for various hacking-related crimes, but the hacking group enjoys great popularity among tech geeks, fringe political groups and other nonconformists.
Some supporters have even argued that Anonymous is the new kind of Internet social activism, and that the “hactivists” are the 21st century-version of Robin Hood and his merry band.
Wired has gone so far as to say that Anonymous has a culture its own, including “aesthetics and values, art and literature, social norms and ways of production, and even its own dialectic language.”
Charlie Hebdo attack was the last straw
Anonymous “declared war” against Islamic extremists including ISIS after the attack on Charlie Hebdo in January. The hackers produced a YouTube video in which they said that they would track down the websites and social media networks of Islamic extremists and take them down.
“We, Anonymous around the world, have decided to declare war on you the terrorists,” the group declared in January.
In a new video first seen last Friday, Anonymous posted another warning for ISIS, saying: “You will be treated like a virus, and we are the cure. We own the Internet.”
CNN Money checked the accounts listed by Anonymous, and found that nearly all of the Twitter and Facebook accounts suspended or were not available. However, a few accounts listed by the group were still functional.
