• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
The 2008 video that made Anonymous known all over the world

Home> News

Updated 19:08 22 Aug 2022 GMT+1Published 18:39 22 Aug 2022 GMT+1

The 2008 video that made Anonymous known all over the world

A viral Tom Cruise video prompted Anonymous to upload their 'Message to Scientology'

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

Anonymous' unforgettable 2008 video 'Message to Scientology' made the hacking collective known all over the world.

The clip called out for the Church of Scientology, a controversial 'religion' known for its celebrity followers such as Tom Cruise and Elisabeth Moss, to be 'destroyed'.

If you want to take a trip down memory lane, watch below:

The hacker group opted to send a message to those who followed the 'religion', which was founded on the writing of American author L. Ron Hubbard.

The group has been embroiled in numerous controversies over the years and is currently facing a lawsuit from three former members accusing the organisation of trafficking them as children and forcing them to work for little or no pay.

Advert

The church called the lawsuit a 'scam and a sham' and 'nothing more than an attempted money grab'.

The 2008 video was a response to the Church of Scientology's attempts to remove material from an interview with Scientologist Tom Cruise from the internet.

A (literally) anonymous person on the internet began frustrated of how the Church of Scientology was censoring content and decided to do something about it.

That's when the war between 4Chan (Anonymous) and The Church of Scientology was born.

Advert

As shown in the clip above, Anonymous say: "Over the years, we have been watching you.

"Your campaigns of misinformation; suppression of dissent; your litigious nature, all of these things have caught our eye.

"With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who trust you, who call you leader, has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organisation should be destroyed.

Darkened Studio / Alamy Stock Photo

Advert

"For the good of your followers, for the good of mankind - for the laughs - we shall expel you from the internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form.

"We acknowledge you as a serious opponent, and we are prepared for a long, long campaign. You will not prevail forever against the angry masses of the body politic. Your methods, hypocrisy, and the artlessness of your organisation have sounded its death knell.

"You cannot hide; we are everywhere. We cannot die; we are forever. We're getting bigger every day - and solely by the force of our ideas, malicious and hostile as they often are. If you want another name for your opponent, then call us Legion, for we are many.

Rob Wilkinson / Alamy Stock Photo

Advert

"Yet for all that we are not as monstrous as you are; still our methods are a parallel to your own.

"Doubtless you will use the Anon's actions as an example of the persecution you have so long warned your followers would come; this is acceptable. In fact, it is encouraged. We are your SPs.

"Gradually as we merge our pulse with that of your 'Church', the suppression of your followers will become increasingly difficult to maintain. Believers will wake, and see that salvation has no price.

Oscar Dominguez / Alamy Stock Photo

Advert

"They will know that the stress, the frustration that they feel is not something that may be blamed upon Anonymous. No - they will see that it stems from a source far closer to each. Yes, we are SPs. But the sum of suppression we could ever muster is eclipsed by that of the RTC.

"Knowledge is free. We are Anonymous.

"We are Legion. We do not forgive.

"We do not forget. Expect us."

Advert

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]  

Featured Image Credit: Anonymous

Topics: US News

Anish Vij
Anish Vij

Anish has an MA in Multimedia Journalism and is passionate about delivering sarcastic/mildly amusing content. After studying business at undergrad, Anish realised that he’d much prefer getting paid to rant about a topic, rather than to find a solution to it. Apart from that, he loves the ‘Four F’s’, as he calls it - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

X

@Anish_Vij

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

6 mins ago
25 mins ago
an hour ago
  • Getty Images/Pool
    6 mins ago

    Truth behind whether Melania broke royal protocol with act when meeting King Charles

    Questions were raised over whether the First Lady didn't follow royal protocol when being received by the Royal Family on Wednesday

    News
  • Getty Images/ANGELA WEISS
    25 mins ago

    Elon Musk responds after Pope Leo took brutal swipe at him

    Musk and the Pope have meen caught in a war of words of late

    News
  • Olivia Wong/Getty Images
    an hour ago

    Jamie Lee Curtis weighs in on Jimmy Kimmel controversy following Charlie Kirk comments

    Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been 'indefinitely' suspended by ABC affiliate group Sinclair

    Celebrity
  • Riverside County Sheriff's Office
    an hour ago

    Everything we know about Celeste Rivas as police give update on decomposing body found in singer's Tesla

    The decomposed body was identified as Celeste Rivas

    News
  • All the celebs who have slammed decision to take Jimmy Kimmel off air over Charlie Kirk comments
  • Crews discovered a massive shipwreck under the World Trade Center Towers after 9/11
  • Experts issue warning over dangerous ‘DIY Botox’ trend that could lead to terrifying results
  • Charlie Kirk's wife breaks silence on his assassination with emotional video statement