Anonymous had threatened to reveal private information about a man they claimed to be Michael Brown's shooter
(Credit: Reuters/Nacho Doce)Hacking group Anonymous’ Twitter account (@TheAnonMessage) was suspended on Thursday. The group claimed to reveal the name of Michael Brown’s shooter via the social media website and threatened to publish his home address and photo if the Ferguson Police Department did not confirm the allegation.
According to NBC News, Chief Angel Jimenez of the St. Ann Police Department in Missouri said that the person accused by Anonymous is actually a dispatcher, not a police officer. “At no time has he ever been involved in a shooting in Ferguson or elsewhere,” said Jimenez.
While Twitter does not comment on individual accounts, when asked for comment, a representative pointed to the social media website’s rules, which states that Twitter does not permit users to ”publish or post other people’s private and confidential information” or “publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others.” Anonymous had done both.
Anonymous has since switched to a backup account.
Twitter has suspended my main account. The powers that be will stop at nothing to silence us. #Anonymous #Ferguson
— TheAnonMessage2 (@TheAnonMessage2) August 14, 2014
Censoring us is an act of war. #Ferguson #TheAnonMessage
— TheAnonMessage2 (@TheAnonMessage2) August 14, 2014
Joanna Rothkopf is an assistant editor at Salon, focusing on sustainability. Follow @JoannaRothkopf or email jrothkopf@salon.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Spammers, stay out. Only political and video game discussion here.