If you’ve been looking for your chance to make fun of ISIS, now’s the time.
Social media sites are abuzz on Friday with users targeting the Islamic State, better known as ISIS or ISIL. Web users around the globe are posting images and videos poking fun at ISIS. A surprisingly large number of people have edited images of the militant group’s members, replacing their faces with ducks. The hashtags #ISISTrollingDay, #trollingday, and #Daeshbags have also gone viral. The #Daeshbags hashtag is a reference to the term “Daesh,” another name for ISIS that the militant group reportedly views as derogatory.
The social media posts are part of what hacking collective Anonymous calls ISIS Trolling Day. Earlier this week, Anonymous, which has claimed to have taken down hundreds of social media accounts attributed to ISIS as part of its cyber war against the militant group, called on all Internet users to join its members in ISIS Trolling Day.
“We ask you to show your support and help against ISIS by joining us and trolling them,” the hacking collective wrote on file-sharing website Ghostbin. “Do not think you have to be part of Anonymous, anyone can do this and does not require special skills.”
Anonymous added that it wanted users to take to Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR), Instagram, YouTube, and anywhere else in the “real world” to troll ISIS.
Trolling is an Internet term used to define abusive or sometimes-threatening comments. Trolls, as they’re called, often use inflammatory language on forums and comment areas, but have in recent years set up shop on social media.
MORE: Let’s Talk About Anonymous Vs. ISIS
While it’s unlikely that ISIS Trolling Day will do much to disrupt the militant group’s plans, it represents an important show of solidarity against ISIS.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for two tragic attacks in Paris and San Bernardino in the last two months. Anonymous declared cyber war against ISIS after the Paris attacks. Meanwhile, ISIS, which called Anonymous “idiots,” has used social media to celebrate the attacks.
Indeed, ISIS has an extremely sophisticated digital apparatus it uses to recruit new members and share propaganda. ISIS uses social media, as well video-sharing sites like YouTube, to spread its content. While those companies have worked to remove those accounts and scrub ISIS from their services, the militant group is still active online. The militant group has its own smartphone app and uses encrypted messaging service Telegram to communicate.
Lawmakers, including President Obama, as well as major technology executives, like Eric Schmidt, say that more work needs to be done to fight terrorist activity online. Schmidt said in an op-ed in The New York Times earlier this week that the best way forward would be for governments, tech companies, and Internet users to come together and find ways to safeguard the web against hate and harassment.
For now, no solutions have been presented. Still, ISIS Trolling Day aims at getting more people invested in combating ISIS online. And at least so far, it seems to be working.
For more on ISIS and its use of technology, check out the following Coins2Day video:
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