Anonymous hacktivists divided over Facebook attack

A planned cyberattack on Facebook by some members of the activist hacker group Anonymous has been publicly denounced by a spokesperson with the group.

A video claiming to be from the group created a media buzz this week after threatening to "kill Facebook" on Nov. 5, 2011, Guy Fawkes Night, as part of a campaign with the Twitter hashtag #OpFacebook.

The video, first posted in July, alleged that Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and helping information security firms working for "authoritarian governments like Egypt and Syria" spy on people. It urged hacktivists to join the cause "for the sake of your own privacy."

Facebook has not commented on the allegations.

Anonymous, a loosely knit group that says it is motivated by the fight for "internet freedom," has previously taken credit for ideologically motivated attacks on several governments including Egypt and Tunisia as well as law enforcement agencies and big companies such as MasterCard and Visa.

However, it denounced the media reports about Operation Facebook Wednesday from its AnonOps Twitter account.

Video initially called 'just another fake'

"Medias of the world… stop lying! #OpFacebook is just another fake!" it tweeted. "We don't 'kill' the messenger. That's not our style."

That led to responses from other Twitter users claiming to be Anonymous members.

"Dudes, you're not the only anons in the world," said a user called Nicu Calcea. "We are bigger than a twitter account. It's not for you to decide."

Another user called AnonSmith01 alleged that Facebook sells information to security firms, adding, "That's a violation of what we stand for, all you people should know that."

AnonOps responded, "Don't be silly." It suggested that more important things were happening in the world than Facebook. "Let's keep our style & moral," it said.

It finally formally acknowledged that "#OpFacebook is being organized by some Anons."

It added: "This does not necessarily mean that all of Anonymous agrees with it… We prefer to face the real power and not to face to the same medias that we use as tools."