The hacker-activist group Anonymous hacked into dozens of
Twitter accounts of pro-Islamic State militants, decorating them with gay pride
symbols, pro-LGBT slogans and links to gay pornography in response to the
deadly attack in Orlando’s Pulse nightclub which killed 50 people and left 53
others wounded.
It’s been an incredibly tough week for the LGBT community
after the horrific mass murder. It is the deadliest mass shooting in the modern
history of U.S.
While the rest of the world mourned the vile attacks, ISIS
celebrated.
U.S. claims, the gunman, Omar Mateen, a New York-born
Florida resident and U.S. citizen, who was the son of Afghan immigrants, was inspired
by ISIS.
A hacker, who goes by the name WauchulaGhost, draped some
accounts with the rainbow flag and messages like "I’m Gay and I’m
Proud." The hacker vigilante claims to have taken over 200 Twitter
accounts belonging to ISIS supporters in retaliation for the group’s public
praise of the mass shooting at the gay nightclub.
WauchulaGhost has been hacking pro-ISIS accounts since at
least March 2016, but possibly earlier. Around June 7, WauchulaGhost account
was posting pornography-related images and slogans such as "I love
porn" and Anonymous to pro-ISIS accounts. Anonymous also frequently tweets
the pro-ISIS accounts' IP addresses, which included users in Turkey, the United
Kingdom, Iraq, Jordan, Oman and elsewhere.
In a post on June 12, the hacker said twitter had deleted
the accounts after they were altered by him.
The pro-ISIS accounts that were hacked were all renamed
"Jacked by a Ghost" and most linked to CIA.gov.
The militant organisation’s homophobia is well documented –
it’s outlawed, punishable by death, and there are grim videos of ISIS members
publically executing LGBT people.
It’s not going to bring down the caliphate, but it is funny
as hell.
So in a small, moral victory the Anonymous gave them a
wonderfully gay makeover.