Anonymous Takes Down 20,000 Alleged IS Twitter Accounts

International hacking group anonymous claims to have taken down 20,000 Twitter accounts with alleged links to Islamic State.

The hacker collective had previously vowed to wage ‘total war’ against the terrorist group in response to the recent attacks in Paris in which more than 130 were killed.

The hacktivist group urged hackers around the world to join its #OpParis scheme in which it planned to launch ‘major cyber attacks’ on the terrorists.

“More than 20,000 Twitter accounts belonging to ISIS were taken down by Anonymous,” the group claimed on YouTube this week.

The extremist organisation has previously used social media as an effective way of spreading propaganda and finding new recruits.

Anonymous has also published several online guides for beginners, explaining how to carry out basic hacks on into IS websites and social media accounts.

Encrypted messaging app Telegram Messenger has also taken action against IS after users reported that the terrorist group was using the app’s public channels to spread its messages.

The app’s makers tweeted: “Thanks to your reports, today we were able to block another 164 public channels used to spread terrorist propaganda”.

Image credit: Anonymous/YouTube