Islamic State Supporters Exploit San Francisco Earthquake to Publish Anti-American Propaganda on Twitter

Islamic State sympathizers turned to Twitter in the aftermath of Sunday's powerful San Francisco Bay Area earthquake to hijack related hashtags and post anti-American propaganda.

Popular hashtags such as "#sfearthquake" and #napaearthquake" were flooded with images of dead U.S. soldiers and pictures depicting the beheading of photojournalist James Foley.

#fetusUANday #napaearthquake #StevensHeadinObamasHands #ASKRICKY #sfearthquakepic.twitter.com/6dkyNHUDmw

— أبو المعتصم خبّاب (@kh_abbab) August 24, 2014

TheBlaze has chosen not to publish the majority of tweets which contained graphic violence.

Sympathizers used the platform to accuse the U.S. of "torture" and alleged Americans are guilty of war crimes.

#fetusUANday #napaearthquake #StevensHeadinObamasHands #ASKRICKY #sfearthquakepic.twitter.com/FAxhh6OiCy

— أبو المعتصم خبّاب (@kh_abbab) August 24, 2014

“As you kill us in Iraq, bomb us in Yemen and torture us in Afghanistan,” one tweet said, “We will kill you wherever we find you.”

#fetusUANday #napaearthquake #StevensHeadinObamasHands #ASKRICKY #sfearthquakepic.twitter.com/IVRwuvqYPs"

— عبدالله المحمد#خلافه (@123Mmqpih) August 24, 2014

Many of the tweets threatened that Islamic State militants would execute another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, unless President Barack Obama ordered a U.S. retreat from Iraq.

On Sunday, California's Bay Area was rocked by a powerful 6.1 magnitude earthquake.

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Follow Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) on Twitter