Is Anonymous’ ‘War On ISIS’ As Effective As They're Claiming?

After the terror attacks on Paris, the faceless Internet activists of Anonymous declared war against ISIS.

In the weeks since, they have proudly claimed responsibility for the takedown of 20,000 reported Twitter accounts supposedly linked to ISIS. (The hackers have been working under the hashtag #OpIsis.)

However, a Twitter spokesperson has told The Daily Dot that the lists of accounts being reported by Anonymous are “wildly inaccurate” and full of “academics and journalists.”

Twitter has its own internal processes for scrubbing accounts with extremist views, or those containing violent threats.

“Users flag content for us through our standard reporting channels, we review their reports manually, and take action if the content violates our rules,” the spokesperson, who asked to remain nameless, explained.

“We don't review anonymous lists posted online, but third party reviews have found them to be wildly inaccurate and full of academics and journalists.”

Anonymous’ fixation on Twitter has also been called into question, as it’s understood that ISIS primarily uses the encrypted messaging service Telegram for recruitment. Telegram recently indicated it had blocked 78 accounts apparently linked to ISIS.

Anonymous also suggested it had thwarted a terror attack in Atlanta, though the FBI discounted the likelihood of the attack in the first place.

Still, the hacker collective continues its fight. However, that fight now includes a PR front. (It's something they’ve needed ever since Junaid Hussain, a former Anonymous hacker, was revealed to be collaborating with ISIS. Hussain was killed by a drone strike in August.)

Gregg Housh, one of the only publicly identified member of Anonymous, explained to The Independent how exactly they’re working to bring down ISIS.

“[W]hat Anonymous is doing is just tons of research, identifying and monitoring everything out there that Isis might use to communicate and recruit, and trying to get those channels shut down, be it Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, telegram channels,” he said.

“Do you know how hard it is to get followers on Twitter? They keep having to reintroduce new accounts. I think shutting down their channels to talk to impressionable youth around the world is a smart move. It definitely creates more work for them. If just a few kids don’t get caught up, I’d be happy.”

What do you think of Anonymous' 'war on ISIS'?