The November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris outraged the world and united leaders in their efforts to degrade and destroy ISIS.
But while armed forces from several nations wage war in the Middle East, the hacker group Anonymous is using less traditional weapons to undermine ISIS’s online recruitment and propaganda campaigns. Yes, the world’s most powerful terrorist organization is now experiencing the power of the RickRoll:
As you probably know, Rickrolling is the practice of tricking someone into clicking on a link to the music video for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
It’s usually something your douchiest Facebook friend does on April Fool’s Day, but in the right hands, RickRolling can be a powerful tool for making the worst kinds of people look like the jackasses they are.
The Foo Fighters RickRolled the Westboro Baptist Church back in August, proving once and for all that Dave Grohl ranks amongst the coolest mo-fos on the planet.
Now, Anonymous is using the Astley’s 1987 ear-worm to seriously confuse the hell out of some potential ISIS recruits.
Via the #OpParis Twitter account, Anonymous announced last week that they’ve begun “spamming ISIS hashtags with rickrolls.”
It may seem like an odd way to combat terror, but Twitter has proven to be a powerful communication tool for ISIS in the past, and replacing their tweets with the dulcet tones of Mr. Astley’s surprisingly baritone vocals not only stops them from spreading their messages of hate, it also publicly humiliates them in hilarious fashion.
So keep on RickRolling, Anonymous. We know you’ll never let us down.
