Hacker Collective Anonymous Targets the KKK in Missouri
The hacker collective Anonymous has launched a campaign to target the Ku Klux Klan following the groupâs claim they will use âlethal forceâ against protestors in Ferguson, Mo., where racial tensions have boiled for months after police killed a black teenager there.
The operation, known on Twitter as #OpKKK, has targeted local Klan members by publicly identifying them through social media, as well as taking over the Missouri Klan groupâs Twitter account. As of today, for example, the information on the Klanâs twitter account read, âUnder anon control as of 16 NOV 2014 09:11:47. You should've expected us.â
In a video statement posted to YouTube, Anonymous claimed the KKK was targeted because of its threats to use violence in the town where Michael Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson in August, not because of the Klanâs white nationalist beliefs.
âDue to your actions we started Operation KKK,â Anonymous claimed in a video. âThe aim of our operation is nothing more than Cyber Warfare. Anything you upload will be taken down, anything you use to promote the KKK will be shut down.â
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The action comes in the wake of the Traditionalist American Knights of the KKK distributing flyers in Ferguson saying that protestors had âawakened a sleeping giant,â and that demonstrators have threatened the lives of law enforcement, the community and their families, reported.
âWe will not sit by and allow you to harm our families, communities, property nor disrupt our daily lives. Your right to freedom of speech does not give you the right to terrorize citizens,â the flyer read. âWe will use lethal force as provided under Missouri Law to defend ourselves. ⌠You have been warned by the Ku Klux Klan! There will be consequences for your actions against the peaceful, law abiding citizens of Missouri.â
Frank Ancona, the leader of the KKK chapter in Missouri, defended the Klanâs objective to MSNBCâs Chris Hayes by explaining, âThere are remedies under the law. The flyer, if you read it, it says âdefend,â it talks about defense. So, in order to defend yourself, that means youâre being attacked.â
This isnât the first time the hacktivist group has gone after the racist radical right. In 2012, Anonymous declared against neo-Nazi and other hate group websitesâa program that inflicted unprecedented damage on many of the racist sites and releasing an avalanche of personal information about supporters.