TerrorismISIS cleverly exploits social media for recruiting, communicating, and instilling fear
Islamist militants have adopted social media as their primary medium for communicating with the public. Terrorism experts and social media analysts agree that in recent weeks IS has demonstrated a mastery of social media that far exceeds that of al-Qaeda. That use of social media is partly due to the participation of young Western-educated recruits who join IS.
Islamist militants have adopted social media as their primary medium for communicating with the public. The video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley by a member of the Islamic State (IS) is one of many videos posted on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook to spread propaganda, instill fear, and recruit new members.
“Terrorism by its very definition is a communications strategy,” said Max Abrahms, a political science professor at Northeastern University. “In a way… use of social media shouldn’t be that surprising because this is 2014 and everyone uses Twitter.”
Yahoo News reports that terrorism experts and social media analysts agree that in recent weeks IS has demonstrated a mastery of social media that far exceeds that of al-Qaeda. That use of social media is partly due to the participation of young Western-educated recruits who join IS. “These Westerners have a leg up in terms of exposure to social media and frankly their English skills are much better for reaching out,” Abrahms said.
Social media users and the public at large acknowledge that the IS videos shared on social media are intended to spread fear. “IS execution of the American journalist was a deliberate strategy, by showing brutality to the world puts the fear in IS enemies,” tweeted one self-described “extremist” under the name Abu Bakr al-Janabi. “It’s meant to evoke fear, terror and hatred,” he added, writing in English.
As terror groups continue to grow their following on social media platforms, services such as Twitter and YouTube have been closing accounts that advocate terrorism, but in a cat-and-mouse like chase between site administrators and users, the terror groups simply open new accounts. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo recently announced that the company would suspend accounts posting graphic images from the IS video of James Foley, but the video remains posted on other sites.
On the adoption of social media by Islamist terrorist groups, Gabriel Weimann, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center who published a report titled New Terrorism and New Media, considers the development to be an historical paradox. “The (Internet and social media) were developed and maintained and spread all over the world by the Western countries, by the Western model of society. And who is using it against the Western model of society? Those groups that come from societies and religious beliefs that criticize the West,” he said, adding that “they never developed anything about the Internet or its many platforms. Never — not even an inch of progress. They only learned — and very fast — how to adopt our own devices against us.”
