Use of social media by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
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The
Islamic State An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
is a militant group and a former unrecognised
proto-state A quasi-state (some times referred to as state-like entity or proto-state) is a political entity that does not represent a fully institutionalised or autonomous sovereign state. The precise definition of ''quasi-state'' in political literature f ...
. The group sophisticatedly utilizes
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
as a tool for spreading its message and for international recruitment. The Islamic State is widely known for its posting of disturbing contents, such as beheading videos, on the internet. This propaganda is disseminated through websites and many social media platforms such as
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
,
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
, and
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. By utilizing
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
, the organization has garnered a strong following and successfully recruited tens of thousands of followers from around the world. In response to its successful use of social media, many websites and social media platforms have banned accounts and removed content promoting the Islamic State from their platforms.


Target audience

ISIS targets a variety of different groups both in the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
and
Western Countries The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
. There are a wide variety of motives for why fighters may be prompted to join ISIS. Researches from ''Quantum'' cite nine attributes characteristic of a fighter looking to join ISIS: status seeking, identity seeking, revenge, redemption, thrill, ideology, justice, and death. The standard ISIS recruit, both from the Middle East and Western countries, is relatively young. The average age of ISIS fighters is around 26 years old, with 86% of recruits being male. Middle Eastern recruits come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in Northern Iraq. Recent destruction in the
Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...
and Syrian Civil War has created hatred of
Western Powers The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
in the region. Western recruits are often second or third-generation immigrants. Computer scientists Zeeshan ul-hassan Usmani also found that the majority of the Western recruits do not feel "at home" in their home country. As a result, these fighters often have desires to go abroad and escape conditions in their home country. In addition to recruitment, ISIS's social media presence is also meant to intimidate and spread terror around the world. ISIS's posting of beheadings and other execution videos primarily target the Western world.


Content and messages

ISIS produces propaganda videos that range from video executions to full-length documentaries. The videos have a high production quality and incorporate montages, slow motion scenes, and are often accompanied by a short dialogue. ISIS has a dedicated team of over 100 media insurgents dedicated to recording these videos. The ISIS executions typically consist of
beheadings Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the au ...
or mass shootings in retaliation to western intervention in ISIS territory. The particular videos that ISIS often post include executions of "enemies of the
Caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
," which often consist of westerners or Jordanian nationals. Most infamously, an executioner named
Jihadi John Mohammed Emwazi (born Muhammad Jassim Abdulkarim Olayan al-Dhafiri; ar, محمد جاسم عبد الكريم عليان الظفيري; 17 August 1988 – 12 November 2015) was a British militant of Kuwaiti origin believed to be the pers ...
was seen in many of these videos prior to his death in 2015. Jihadi John is notorious for executing many US, UK, and Japanese citizens such as Steven Sotloff, David Haines, and Alan Henning. In many of the videos and materials produced by ISIS, there is the theme of inclusion and brotherhood. Additionally, the videos also focus on three main messages: # Convey narrative of global war and ultimate victory # Radicalize populations globally # Encourage international lone state actor and small cell attacks in support of ISIS These messages can be seen throughout all content produced by the Islamic State such as war documentaries, execution videos, and Rumiyah (magazine).


Social media usage

From 2013 to 2014, the organization primarily used mainstream platforms such as
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
, and
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. In 2014, these large social media platforms removed ISIS content. Since then, ISIS has chosen to utilize social media platforms that either protect their content or allow for content to quickly be reposted. These platforms of choice are
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
, Justpaste.it, and
Surespot Surespot was a free open-source instant messaging application for Android and iOS with a focus on privacy and security. It was shut down on July 31, 2022. Features The application supported the sending of text, pictures, audio messages (in th ...
. ISIS also implements marketing initiatives like “Jihadist Follow Friday,” which encourages users to follow new ISIS-related accounts each Friday.Wright, Shaun; Denney, David; Pinkerton, Alasdair; Jansen, Vincent A.A.; Bryden, John (2016-05-17). "Resurgent Insurgents: Quantitative Research Into Jihadists Who Get Suspended but Return on Twitter". Journal of Terrorism Research. 7 (2). ISSN 2049-7040. doi:10.15664/jtr.1213. This specific hashtag mirrors commonly used hashtags such as #motivation monday or #. To augment their online presence and popularity, the organization encourages their followers to use a plethora of Arabic hashtags, which translate to #theFridayofSupportingISIS, and #CalamityWillBefalltheUS. This allows them to gain followers each week while promoting their community and message on a weekly basis.Berger, Morgan (2015-03-05). "Defining and describing the population of ISIS supporters on Twitter". The Brookings Institution. Retrieved 2016-05-22.


Twitter

During 2014, there were an estimated 46,000 to 90,000 Twitter accounts that advocated for ISIS or were run by supporters of the group. In 2015, Twitter reported that it banned 125,000 ISIS sympathetic accounts.Koerner, Brendan I. “Why ISIS Is Winning the Social Media War.” Wired, Conde Nast, 1 May 2017 In 2016, it published an update of 325,000 deleted accounts. Though many accounts have been suspended, ISIS supporters often create new accounts. Twitter defines those who recreate accounts as “resurgents” and explains that these are often difficult accounts to remove completely, since they tend to pop back up in alternate forms. It is estimated that approximately 20% of all ISIS affiliated Twitter accounts can be traced back to fake accounts created by the same user. Many of these accounts are traced back to the “Baqiya family,” which is an online network of thousands of ISIS followers. Many of these accounts are active during important ISIS military victories. During the ISIS march on Mosul, there were about 42,000 tweets on Twitter supporting the invasion.


Telegram

During 2014, ISIS became very active on
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
after many major social media platforms banned ISIS content and sympathetic accounts. Telegram is an encrypted messaging application. The platform by nature is created as an end-to-end user encryption platform. Further, it also has special features such as the self-destruct timer which erase all evidence and messages. The app has a user data protection policy because violating this policy could potentially damage the app’s brand of customer privacy. Government agencies have been unable to break Telegram's encryption technology. On Telegram, ISIS often uses the hashtag #KhilafahNews to attract their users. Telegram is used by ISIS to plan social media campaigns on alternate platforms. The organization also uses Telegram as an anchor platform to connect with their user base when their other accounts are banned on Twitter and Facebook. On 28 February 2016 a video was uploaded threatening to expose the
najaasah In Islamic law, najis ( ar, نجس) means ritually unclean. According to Islam, there are two kinds of najis: the essential najis which cannot be cleaned and the unessential najis which become najis while in contact with another najis. Contac ...
and shoot the hesitates. Produced by Ibn-Altayb and distributed by
Al-Hayat Al-Hayat ( ar, الحياة meaning "Life") was a London-based, pan-Arab newspaper owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, that had a circulation estimated over 200,000. It was the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred v ...
, the video shows footage of Bruxelles attacks and the victims. In July 2017, Telegram came under scrutiny from the media and news media outlets. It has been documented that ISIS gunmen have used this app to maintain contact with ISIS leaders in
Raqqa Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, ...
days before terror attacks in Turkey,
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, and
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Despite concerns from Western media, there has been little to no action taken against ISIS accounts on Telegram. In April 2019 a video was uploaded in which they urged lone wolves to attempt to attack during the
Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...
in
Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
and Málaga. In Sevilla, a jihadist who intended to perform a lone wolf attack was arrested.


TikTok

In October 2019, it was reported that ISIS recruitment content was discovered on
TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...
. Approximately two dozen accounts were subsequently shut down in response.


Justpaste.it

Justpaste.it, an anonymous photo and text sharing website, has also been utilized heavily. With the option to lock images, the website allows anonymous users to send and receive content without registration. For this reason, ISIS members have shared photos of countless murders, executions, and battlegrounds onto the app to be disseminated to other applications. There have been calls to shut down the site to prevent its usage by ISIS or other extremist groups. However, founder Mariusz Żurawek has resisted doing so. He stated, "I do not want to interfere with any type of conflict and stay on one side. Justpaste.it has many users. I cannot focus on a single group. I don’t see any reason why they should shut down the service. Should they shut down Twitter, too?" In 2014, Justpaste.it removed graphic content from the website—this prompted ISIS to launch their own content-sharing pages. These sites included Manbar.me in 2014, Nasher.me in January 2015, and Alors.ninja, in July 2015. ISIS social media offices relied most heavily on Manbar.me to distribute propaganda photos of battles and city raids. In 2016, ISIS introduced PasteMaker and Sharetext, which mirrored the encrypted messages of Justpaste.it. Despite creating their own platforms periodically, they were considerably more difficult to navigate; thus ISIS returned to using Justpaste.it.


The Dawn of Glad Tidings smartphone application

ISIS created The Dawn of Glad Tidings, an Arabic-language application. This app shares many of the tweets, pictures, and videos from ISIS sympathetic Twitter accounts. Additionally, it allowed users to see and monitor hashtags, tweets, images, videos, and comments that were posted on their accounts. The application was originally intended for ISIS followers to have a private online forum to communicate. This app was downloaded several hundred times on the Google Play app store before being taken down.


Offline impact

As the November 2015 attacks in Paris demonstrate, ISIS also resorts to old-fashioned methods of communication and propaganda. Lewis notes that the attacks in Paris represent a '
propaganda of the deed Propaganda of the deed (or propaganda by the deed, from the French ) is specific political direct action meant to be exemplary to others and serve as a catalyst for revolution. It is primarily associated with acts of violence perpetrated by pr ...
', a method developed by 19th century anarchists in Europe. The November 2015 ISIS attacks were perpetrated without prior warning, largely because the operatives met face-to-face and used other non-digital means of communication. Additionally, it is common for ISIS to claim responsibility of many terror attacks around the world such as the Paris Attacks, the Pulse night club shooting, and the Las Vegas attack.


Usage of the dark web

ISIS’s activities on the surface web are subject to scrutiny and regulations by corporations, government agencies, and hackers. ISIS has been forced to look for a new online safe haven. ISIS also posts a variety of content on the Dark Web. They also actively publish a variety of their content on the dark web as well as their own internally generated platforms. ISIS's usage of dark web has made
anti-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...
work more difficult. Using the dark web, ISIS has made their own platform to increase their ability to spread their message. Without the intervention of corporate actors or government entities, ISIS has been able to freely spread their messages on their own platforms and websites. In 2017, Europol, the European Police, was able to uncover 52 unique online ISIS networks on the dark web. These 52 unique networks contained over 2,000 unique extremist items.


Relevant impact of the ISIS social media usage

ISIS social media posts have mobilized ordinary citizens throughout the world and other radical
jihadists Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
groups to act upon their digitized demands. Their methods have worked to effectively recruit younger individuals to join their groups in a consolidated setting. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
are more impressionable mediums, especially on a younger demographic. For this reason, ISIS strategically places their polished messages on these platforms to attract potential new members from an early age.Awan, Imran. “Cyber-Extremism: ISIS and the Power of Social Media.” Social Science and Public Policy. A study about the repercussions of social media demonstrated that there were approximately 1,264 cases that could be categorized as “violent-inciting” examples; in these cases, ISIS social media experts have deliberately posted threatening propaganda to provoke offline aggression. Many “call for action” verbs that have a positive connotation have also been utilized to establish feelings of justification towards any pertinent violence. A 2022 study found that ISIS online "propaganda conveying the material, spiritual, and social benefits of joining ISIS increased online support for the group, while content displaying brutal violence decreased endorsement of ISIS across a wide range of videos."


Critiques of movement and backlash

Both national governments and corporations have taken a stand against ISIS in both the physical and virtual spheres. The U.S. Department of State announced an international coalition in 2014, in which they list five lines of effort to expose ISIS. They include: * Providing military support to partners * Impeding the flow of foreign fighters * Stopping financing and funding * Addressing humanitarian crises in the region * Exposing true nature Companies are also taking action to hinder ISIS social media recruitment attempts.
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
’s ThinkTank, Jigsaw, launched a collaboration with YouTube in July, 2017 to redirect any potential recruits using the Redirect Method.Snider, Mike. “YouTube Redirects ISIS Recruits to Anti-Terrorist Videos.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, July 20, 2017. After facing growing pressure from the government leaders, Facebook announced that the company is using Artificial Intelligence to detect terrorism related contents, their effort would extend to other Facebook owned platforms such as
WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows use ...
. “The Redirect Method uses
Adwords Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. It can place ads both in the result ...
targeting tools and curated YouTube videos uploaded by people all around the world to confront online radicalization. It focuses on the slice of ISIS’ audience that is most susceptible to its messaging, and redirects them towards curated YouTube videos debunking ISIS recruiting themes. This open methodology was developed from interviews with ISIS defectors, respects users’ privacy and can be deployed to tackle other types of violent recruiting discourses online.” By using this tactic, Jigsaw catches slogans that manifest any positive ISIS sentiments, like ('Remaining and Expanding'), and , which includes , a sign of respect. Lastly, Anonymous declared war against ISIS in November 2015, attempting to thwart the social media recruitment efforts by targeting ISIS's communication networks.Cohen, Paula. “Anonymous Hackers' Group Declares War on ISIS.” CBS News, CBS, 16 Nov. 2015, www.cbsnews.com/news/anonymous-hackers-declare-war-on-isis/.


References

{{reflist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Terrorism tactics Politics of the Middle East Social media