LONDON -- Islamic State (ISIS) supporters in several European cities have ??? ??? ??been reportedly located thanks to an online crowdsourcing effort.
SEE ALSO: ISIS tech team warns 'brothers in Belgium' to avoid social media after Brussels attacksLast Saturday, thousands of supporters of the group posted images of solidarity in honour of the group's spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who was rumoured to be releasing a long-awaited recording.
The photographs, which showed European ISIS fans holding handwritten notes containing verses of the Quran, were originally posted on Telegram, a messaging app popular with supporters.
Their purpose was to create a buzz and demonstrate that the group had supporters across the continent.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
However, ISIS watchers found the pictures and shared them on Twitter, where Eliot Higgins, founder of citizen journalism website Bellingcat, started a crowdsourced effort to find the fanboys' location.
"They seemed like they'd be geolocatable so I shared them with my Twitter followers to see if they wanted to try, and pretty soon they started coming up with locations," Higgins told Mashable.
Using landmarks and other geolocating methods, Higgins and Twitter users were able to find the location of four users in Germany, London, Paris and the Netherlands.
"We examined four, those were ones I thought looked like they could be geolocated. So, for example, the Paris example it was a matter of IDing the Suzuki logo in the picture, looking up Suzuki shops in Paris, and checking Google Street View," he said.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Google Earth and Street View were used by a user who found an online map of advertising pillars in the German city of Munster to locate the ISIS supporter:
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Then it was the turn of the London supporter, who was pinpointed to a station in North London called Bruce Grove.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Local police tweeted it was aware of the ISIS supporter photo and an investigation was ongoing.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Another was located by a member of the Bellingcat investigative team in Hoofddorp, a town near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
A user even located the exact apartment building that the photographer was in:
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Higgins said local authorities the Netherlands are looking into it.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
"Overall, the ISIS social media campaign backfired spectacularly, likely revealing information about multiple ISIS supporters in major European cities, including their residential locations and, perhaps with CCTV cameras, their identities," Higgins wrote in a post.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Previous:'Brooklyn Nine
Seattle Sounders vs. Atletico Madrid 2025 livestream: Watch Club World Cup for freeAmazon workers in NYC warehouse strike to demand coronavirus protectionsThe best workout apps and YouTube videos for when you can't leave homeHighly relatable Twitter meme compares the start of March to its endHow to adapt if you've moved in with your parents due to coronavirusTV shows donate medical equipment to hospitals to fight coronavirusThe best sleep apps to help you get a good night's restTrish Regan, who called coronavirus an 'impeachment scam,' leaves Fox BusinessHow guided sleep meditation apps helped me sleepPornhub Premium is now free for everyone to encourage you to stay home Randy’s Donuts to Open 50 Locations in Japan INTO THE NEXT STAGE: ‘Come See the Paradise’ — For 3 Bucks, a Steal Takano, Japanese Lawmakers Discuss Joint Letter to Biden, Kishida on Taiwan Security Ice Open Network Launches Mainnet with 200 Validators Blockchain Forum 2025: Global Crypto Leaders to Meet in Moscow Woman Reported Missing; Last Seen in Mission Hills Kuramoto Honored as NEA National Heritage Fellow INTO THE NEXT STAGE: Subtitled ‘Farewell to Manzanar’ Ready for the Holidays THROUGH THE FIRE: Destination —?Little Tokyo! Gate.io’s Rise in the Futures Market
0.2065s , 9948.6484375 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【??? ??? ??】Enter to watch online.How crowdsourcing helped locate ISIS supporters in European cities,