Pro-IS hacking group threatens Facebook, Twitter

Washington, Feb 25: Baffled by a severe crackdown on its social media accounts in recent past, a self-styled hacking division of terrorist group Islamic State (IS) has issued a video that threatens Facebook and Twitter CEOs with dire consequences if the social media platforms keep taking down pro-IS accounts.

The video posted by "Sons Caliphate Army" and authenticated by Storyful, a news agency that verifies content online, has images of Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter's Jack Dorsey riddled with bullet holes, Engadget reported on Thursday.

"To Mark and Jack, founders of Twitter and Facebook and to their Crusader government. You announce daily that you suspended many of your accounts, and to you we say: Is that all you can do? You are not in our league," read a banner at the end of the video.

The video clip threatens that the hacking group will take 10 accounts for every one that Facebook or Twitter shuts down and will eventually "delete" both the sites entirely.

The video claims that the hacking group still has over 10,000 Facebook accounts, 150 Facebook groups and 5,000 Twitter accounts.

In its bid to curb the spread of terrorism-related tweets on its platform, Twitter recently announced that it has suspended over 125,000 accounts for threatening or promoting terrorist acts, primarily related to the IS.

"Like most people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups. We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter Rules make it clear that this type of behaviour, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service," Twitter said in a blog post.

In October 2014, then Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said he and his staff had been threatened over shutdowns.

A Jerusalem-based cell of IS also threatened last year to kill Twitter employees and target its offices if it does not stop taking down IS accounts.

According to a latest study by the US-based Brookings Institution, IS supporters may be operating over 46,000 active Twitter accounts.

IANS