Which modern activist group uses a stylized Guy Fawkes mask?

The modern activist group associated with a stylised Guy Fawkes mask is Anonymous. The mask depicts a grinning, moustached and bearded face based on the design created for the graphic novel V for Vendetta.

Artist David Lloyd designed the mask for Alan Moore’s 1982–1989 graphic novel, where it was worn by the anarchist revolutionary V. The 2005 film adaptation made the image globally recognisable, and mass-produced masks soon appeared at protests.

Anonymous adopted the mask prominently during Project Chanology in 2008, a campaign against the Church of Scientology. Protesters wanted to conceal their identities while presenting themselves as part of a collective rather than as individual leaders. The mask subsequently became linked with Anonymous’s wider anti-authoritarian and hacktivist campaigns.

It is a common mistake to treat the mask as an ancient portrait of Fawkes. Its modern visual design is a 20th-century artistic creation, although it draws on the older Guy Fawkes Night practice of burning a representation of him. Other movements, including Occupy, have also used it.