The debate about the limits of free speech has raged on since the tragic shootings at the offices of Charlie Hebdo. Now a group of hackers claiming affiliation with Anonymous has stepped into the fray: they've taken down Ansar-Alhaqq, a French jihadist media website.
The hackers behind @OpCharlieHebdo, who claim to be a Belgian arm of Anonymous, say that they have a responsibility to defend free speech. In a video posted online, they say that they are defending the "freedom of the press, which is fundamental to all democracy".
Ansar-Alhaqq translates as "defenders of the truth". Le Figaro reports that alongside innocuous tips on how to be a good Muslim, the website also features articles such as "44 Ways To Support Jihad".
Now anybody trying to access Ansar-Alhaqq is redirected to DuckDuckGo, "the search engine that doesn't track you".Â
In the past, the loose collective which makes up Anonymous' ranks have successfully ridiculed a US branch of the KKK, drawn attention to police brutality in Albuquerque and pursued the truth in a teen rape case.
But in this case, launching a campaign to protect freedom of speech by shutting down another media website – even a jihadist one – seems like a fairly alarming paradox. Is this just a direct contradiction in @OpCharlieHebdo's battle for free speech?
Watch #OpCharlieHebdo's video below:Â
