As thousands of people demonstrate against racism and police violence on the streets of the United States, the activist group Anonymous seems to be making a comeback. A comeback manifested by the publication of a video using the codes of the activist group, but also through the Twitter account @ YourAnonNews, particularly active since the death of George Floyd, the starting point for demonstrations in the United States against police violence.
Position and threats
In the 4-minute video published on May 29 on Facebook, we see a person wearing the famous mask from the film V for Vendetta, which has become the trademark of Anonymous. In a distorted and robotic voice, the individual announces: "you may have dismissed these agents to save face, but it is clear that this kind of behavior is condoned, if not encouraged within your services , as it is in others (…) We do not trust your corrupt organization when it comes to carrying out justice. So we are going to show the world your many crimes ”, concluding with the famous slogan“ We are legion, expect us ”(“ We are legion, fear us ”).
The message is clear and the threats were quickly implemented. In any case, this is what many internet users say, even if no direct link has been established between the incidents observed and the Anonymous.
Sharing information about the police in Minneapolis - the city where the dramatic death of George Floyd took place - is attributed to Anonymous, but nothing is less certain. The police site was also stormed. However, there is no tangible evidence to prove that this is the work of the activist group, as demonstrated by cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt. There is also talk of the hacking of Chicago police radios which broadcast the title "Fuck tha Police" by the NWA group, preventing communications between the police.
Finally, Dark Web database hacking is also attributed to Anonymous, but again, doubt persists.
The return of the “real” Anonymous?
The group of cyberactivists born in the early 2000s on the 4chan site has never been a closed movement, everyone can indeed claim to be an Anonymous. It is also a characteristic of the movement. In any case, this is not the first time that the Anonymous have reacted to the death of a person of color at the hands of a white police officer. Already in 2014, the group of activists rebelled on the web of the death of Michael Brown, shot six times by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. At the time, the Anonymous had shared many fake news, which was not their habit.
The doubt concerning the true identity of Anonymous also persists today since the Facebook page on which the 4-minute video posted more than 4 million times was published was still unknown a few days ago. The activist group has not used its usual channels to communicate which could indicate that these are not the "real" Anonymous. However, the fact that the group is a decentralized movement may explain why the appearance of the video on an unknown Facebook account or that new activists are using the Anonymous brand to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Difficult to know the real identity of the broadcasters of the video, but also of the owner of the Twitter account whose number of subscribers has recently exploded.
According to Anonymous movement specialist Gabriella Coleman, the success of the video posted on Facebook is in fact linked to the mobilization of K-pop fans inspired by their idols. They have indeed supported the Black Lives Matter movement from the first moments and asked their fans to do the same.
The fact that the movement's usual practices (hacking, integration of the Anonymous logo on pirated sites, revelations of information) were not observed after the publication of the video could also indicate that this is not the case. group of activists as we knew it at its peak a few years ago. For the movement specialist, "we can't really say that Anonymous is back".
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- Racism
- Violence
- Demonstration
- Piracy
- Anonymous
- George Floyd
- High-Tech