In the wake of the Orlando shooting, which killed 49 innocent civilians, people around the world mourned and questioned the attacker's actions. Survivors shared their stories as did family members of the deceased. Instead of keeping quiet, hacker-activist group Anonymous took it upon themselves to right what it condemns wrong.
As Techly noted, Anonymous took over hundreds of pro-ISIS accounts and gave them a very colorful makeover. One member that goes by the name of WauchulaGhost is responsible for most of the hacks. For one particular account, the hacker changed the profile picture to a rainbow flag and tweeted, "Hello World. It's time I share with you a little secret...I'm Gay and I'm Proud!! #GayPride #OrlandoWillNotBeForgotten !!! #GhostOfNoNation."
When asked about the motivation, WauchulaGhost simply said, "I did it for the lives lost in Orlando." The hacker went on to say that because ISIS has been rejoicing the events, that he/she would defend those that were lost.
He/She also went on to explain that the actions taken against ISIS is not aimed for all Muslims, but are directed at Jihadist extremists.
WauchulaGhost has even gone as far as to share the information of the accounts he was hacking, including contact information, in order to make it easier for other hackers.
Twitter, as a company, has also done their part to try and mitigate accounts that are pro-ISIS. According to CBS News, Twitter has not admitted that the accounts were hacked, but the company did confirm it has closed thousands of accounts because of violent activity.
A spokesperson of the company told the publication that Twitter condemns the use of the site in order to promote terrorism. Further, Twitter's rules make it very clear that violent or threatening behavior is not welcome. The spokesperson also confirmed that in just a year, Twitter has suspended as many as 125,000 accounts "for threatening or promoting terrorist acts, primarily related to ISIS."
