Entertainment website Buzzfeed has withdrawn its ‘Which terrorist group are you?’ quiz following user complaints. The website removed the quiz on Tuesday afternoon, and released a statement apologising for what it admitted had been a ‘crass and insensitive’ post.
The quiz required users to answer a series of multiple-choice questions, such as their favourite holiday destination, Harry Potter character and bomb making recipe, after which they would be told which international terrorist organisation they most closely affiliated with. Possible results included ISIS, Al-Qaeda, the IRA, Hamas and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).
Respondents would then be provided with links to the relevant terrorist organisation’s website and social media accounts, as well as full details on how to join.
However some Buzzfeed users reacted to the quiz with horror. Jane Walters, a council employee from Doncaster, told The Spark that the quiz was ‘disgusting’ and ‘a moral disgrace’. These comments were echoed by Adam Taylor, a student from Manchester, who added that he was ‘particularly appalled’ that the quiz had matched him to the IRA, when he was ‘absolutely certain he would get Hamas’.
Sources close to Buzzfeed, speaking off the record on a stool at the bar, have claimed that the quiz was in fact one of the sites sponsored posts, produced by a private company. One figure told us that Buzzfeed had been approached by a ‘small London based start-up called Em Eye Five’ who had offered them ‘good money’ to run the quiz.
He added that the company seemed ‘very interested’ in which terrorist group’s people might associate themselves with, although he admitted that ‘we’ve no idea why’.
