Anonymous: Hacktivist group calls for revenge on Charlie Hebdo terrorists

Anonymous member addresses Charlie Hebdo terrorists (YouTube)

A purported member of Anonymous, a hacktivist group, in a video uploaded to YouTube, addressed the killers responsible for the attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, saying: "Anonymous from around the world have decided to declare war against you, terrorists."

Speaking in French on Anonymous' Belgian channel, the cybervigilante warned terrorists, "We will track all your online activity, we will close your accounts on every social network."

A post associated with the message states that: "We will fight always and everywhere the enemies of freedom of speech… Freedom of speech and opinion is a non-negotiable thing, to tackle it is to attack democracy. Expect a massive frontal reaction from us because the struggle for the defense of those freedoms is the foundation of our movement."

The video message to the Charlie Hebdo attackers roughly translates to "We will find you until the very last one, destroy you. You killed innocents. You won't bring Shariah to our democracies. We won't let your stupidity destroy our freedom of press."

At the moment, the #OpCharlieHebdo message is merely a call to action from a sole hacker, though it has received support from other Anonymous-related figures. The loose, decentralized group known as Anonymous does not have a traditional chain of command. Nothing may happen unless others aligned with the cause heed the call.