An ISIS activist displaying a flag of the terrorist organization. (Photo : Getty Images/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
Perturbed over the fact that social networks have been deleting accounts of their sympathizers, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has threatened retaliation. A pro-ISIS group has posted a video on a messenger site on Thursday threatening vengeance against Facebook and Twitter.
The video threatened to take down 10 accounts on Facebook and Twitter for each account shut down by these social media platforms and claimed to ultimately "delete" these sites entirely. Moreover, a section of the clip shows bullet ridden images of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter's Jack Dorsey, the Independent reported.
The text on the 25-minute video, titled "Flames of the Supporters," reads, "You announce daily that you suspend many of our accounts, and to you we say: Is that all you can do? You are not in our league." It goes on to add, "If you close one account we will take 10 in return and soon your names will be erased after we delete you [sic] sites, Allah willing, and will know that [sic] we say is true."
However, this is not the first time that ISIS supporters have targeted Twitter and Dorsey to express their anger over the social media platform's effort to drive extremists and their supporters from the site. Last March, the terrorists uploaded a post online threatening Twitter employees and Dorsey in particular, Tech Crunch reported.
A group, which calls itself "Sons Caliphate Army," originally posted the video on messaging app Telegram on Thursday. Since then, it has been circulating on various social media platform. The findings of a study undertaken by a researcher from George Washington University, to understand the use of mainstream social media use by supporters of one ISIS group, hinted that after being banned from Twitter, the terrorists now prefer Telegram as a backup.
While the clip is certain to make these social media site executives somewhat nervous, Twitter has dispensed with the personal threat wherein Dorsey says it was just a part of "everyday life" at the global network. On the other hand, Facebook is yet to respond to the video.
However, the video clip has proved that the fight against the online campaign by the terror groups is proving to be effective. At the same time, though the threats should be taken seriously, it has often been found that such threats have proved to be futile, a mere expression of the terrorists' hurt pride.
Watch the threat video posted by an ISIS group on Telegram below:
