Hacking Group Anonymous Disables Thousands Of Pro-ISIS Twitter Accounts And Taking Militant Websites Offline

Islamic State sympathizers using social media to spread propaganda and recruit fighters are now drawing an increasing amount of return fire from activists who have been knocking some sites offline and infiltrating others.

Anonymous, who declared war on the jihadis after the attacks in Paris, is the latest to draw attention to such campaigns.

Members claimed credit this week for having thousands of pro-IS Twitter accounts disabled.

But others claim to have been doing more for longer. One group that feeds information to the U.S. government says it has suppressed tens of thousands of Twitter accounts since January, and its members have posed as would-be recruits to gain information on so-called Dark Web operations supporting the Islamic State.

'We're playing more of an intelligence role,' said the executive director of Ghost Security Group, who declined to be named, citing security concerns. The group is a volunteer organization that has been sending data to the FBI and other agencies via a Congressional terrorism adviser, Michael S. Smith II.

Smith said the group's infiltration efforts had given some actionable information to the government, and that coordinated complaints to Twitter had helped push Islamic State supporters elsewhere.