Anonymous hackers declare Friday "Troll ISIS Day"

The social media battle between hacker collective Anonymous and ISIS seems to be escalating.

Anonymous activists have declared this Friday, Dec. 11 "Troll ISIS Day" and called on supporters to bombard the terrorist group with mocking posts online. ISIS -- also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or by its Arabic acronym Daesh -- relies heavily on social media to spread its propaganda and attract followers.

In an online post to ghostbin.com, Anonymous asked Web users to "show your support and help against ISIS by joining us and trolling them." The post added that anyone can join in: "Do not think you have to be a part of Anonymous, anyone can do this and does not require any special skills."

The collective suggested people take to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, in addition to "the real world," to distribute posts, memes, and messages mocking ISIS.

Anonymous provided a how-to of sorts on Internet trolling. For instance, they suggested Twitter users post mocking photos of ISIS along with the hashtags #Daesh and #Daeshbags. Beyond the digital, they suggested that, in "real life," people print out photos that mock or satirize ISIS and distribute them around their respective cities.

With these real life protests against ISIS, the hackers cautioned supporters to "be careful" because such actions "can be seen as bad if some dont understand you arent supporting but mocking."

"Reports of Daeshbags targeting Anons due to ISIS memes. Make them more mad by joining us on Dec 11 #TrollingDay," tweeted @AnonyOpNews, trying to drum up Twitter support for the campaign.

Social media users quickly answered the online call to arms.

"Anonymous has declared that Friday is national troll ISIS day! So get your memes ready!" Twitter user @MattJozwiak tweeted.

For their part, Anonymous explained the reasoning behind the day:

"They [ISIS] thrive off of fear they hope that by their actions they can silence all of us and get us to just law low and hide in fear," the Anonymous author wrote on ghostbin.com. "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."

In:
• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant