Anonymous Plans To Troll ISIS On Twitter, Facebook, Instagram And YouTube

Anonymous Accounts Shut Down By Twitter — Members of Anonymous, the online activist group identified by the iconic Guy Fawkes mask, claim Twitter has shut down their accounts together with over 100,000 ISIS-linked accounts. Reuters

Members of the online collective Anonymous have called on people around the world to troll members of the Islamic State group this Friday as part of its attempts to disrupt the extremist group's online activities.

The hacktivist group said that in order to "mock them for the idiots they are" it plans to use the same social media channels used by the extremists -- also known as ISIS, IS, ISIL or Daesh -- against them, by posting insulting images and helping highlight accounts linked to the group. "We ask you to show your support and help against ISIS by joining us and trolling them. Do not think you have to be apart of Anonymous, anyone can do this and does not require any special skills," an online memo from members of the group says.

Just as Anonymous previously published a guide for less experienced users to hack ISIS, those behind the latest campaign have listed ways in which anyone can take part. Among the list of possible actions on Twitter include the use of the Daesh hastag, a name members of ISIS are thought to hate being called. The group also encourages those taking part to post pictures of goats and make reference to the wives of ISIS.

The group is also planning real world actions on Friday, with events planned for cities around the globe including Seattle, New York, London, Paris and Vancouver. At these events the organizers are encouraging participants to print out photos that mock ISIS.

In a statement accompanying the instructions, the people behind the operation explained the rationale for the latest anti-ISIS campaign: "[ISIS] thrive off fear, they hope that by their actions they can silence all of us and get us to just lay low and hide in fear. But what many forget and even they do is that there are many more people in the world against them than for them. And that is the goal of this mass uprising, on December 11th we will show them that we are not afraid, we will not just hide in our fear, we are the majority and with our strength in numbers we can make a real difference."

Anonymous "vowed to hunt down" ISIS in the wake of the Paris terror attacks last month as part of Operation ISIS or OpISIS, a wider campaign which has been seeking to disrupt the terrorist group's online communications since earlier this year. Some have however criticized Anonymous' approach to tackling ISIS, with critics claiming that taking ISIS-related accounts offline is hindering counter-intelligence operations.

In the wake of the Paris terror attacks some members of Anonymous posted a list of targets it claimed ISIS was planning to attack, and when the attacks took place, it claimed it had successfully helped thwart those attacks. However some of the best-known Anonymous accounts distanced themselves from the information, saying it did not know where the rumors came from.

Below is the full list of the actions Anonymous members suggest those taking part in the trolling of ISIS could use:

Twitter

Post mocking photos of Isis
While Using #Daesh and #Daeshbags
Post photos of goats while @ing Isis members with captions talking about their wives
Use #'s that many Isis members use and post mocking photos
While again using #'s Isis members use call them out on being Daesh
First @ Isis members call the attention of all your friends to them to suspend
While using #'s known for Isis members to use post photos of dead Isis members
Lets try to get #Daeshbags trending

Instagram