Ku Klux Klan Cyber-Attacks: YouTube Removes Anonymous Threat Video

A YouTube video warning the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) about a cyber-attack has been removed after Anonymous hacked the Twitter accounts and websites belonging to the white supremacist movement.

On Monday, after hacktivists associated with the Anonymous protest movement took control of two Twitter accounts associated with the KKK as well as temporarily knocking several official websites offline, YouTube removed a video associated with the movement.

The video, which is still available elsewhere on YouTube, is a typical Anonymous message featuring a robotic voice and bombastic, hyperbolic statements such as "let the cyber-war begin".

It is unclear exactly why the video has been removed by YouTube but the main Twitter account associated with the campaign - @OperationKKK - said the video-sharing site had called it a "violation", presumably of its terms and conditions.

Freedom of speech

IBTimes UK asked the Anonymous members behind the account if they were given a specific reason for the video's removal, but we have yet to receive an answer.

The video explains the reason why Anonymous decided to attack the KKK:

We are not attacking you because of what you believe in as we fight for freedom of speech...We are attacking you because of what you did to our brothers and sisters at the Ferguson protest on the 12th of November. Due to your actions we have started Operation KKK. The aim of our operation is nothing more than Cyber Warfare. Anything you upload will be taken down, anything you use to promote the KKK will be shut down.

On Sunday, two official Twitter accounts - @KluKluxKlanUSA and @YourKKKCentral - were taken over by Anonymous, while the group temporarily took offline four websites associated with the group, including Storefront, a white nationalist online forum, and the website of the Traditional American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Anonymous has told IBTimes UK that it has documents associated with the group which it will publish and it will also make a statement about the campaign at 3am GMT on Tuesday, 18 November, via the seized KKK Twitter accounts.