The Islamic State of Social Media

Nobody needs a permit to get on social networks, and it’s for this reason that ISIS has been so active and eager to use these platforms as tools of war. Because so many people from countries all over the world use social media, ISIS has ample opportunity for recruitment and support. The group faces either very little or no resistance or censorship, and is able to spread its propaganda with ease. On the occasion that its posts are removed, it’s easy enough for it to find new platforms to host its material and spread its message.

ISIS also uses social media — from Twitter and Facebook to YouTube and Instagram — to communicate with its supporters and sympathizers, and to organize efforts. ISIS members have thousands of accounts on social networking sites and many of them engage with followers, responding to messages or taking direct action to recruit new people. Another favorite is the Telegram messaging app, which can provide end-to-end-encrypted messaging. If used correctly, it can offer users anonymity. 

After ISIS gained prominence when it drove Iraqi military from areas including Mosul in 2014, the Brookings Institute assessed the online activities of ISIS and linked groups (how cohesive ISIS actually is has been the subject of debate).  

Brookings researchers looked at online activity during the last four months of 2014. Its report clearly shows the extreme importance that the group, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his lieutenants, places on social media. For example, for the four months the research focused on, ISIS used at least 46,000 Twitter accounts to disseminate its propaganda. On average, there were at least 500 to 2,000 active accounts on a daily basis, sending out between from 545 and 2,000 tweets, including pictures and videos, per day. One-fifth of the postings were in English and the rest were in Arabic. 

Since then, governments and intelligence agencies have worked on strategies to try to counter this cyber-offensive. Early in the spring of 2016 the Russian-government owned website RT reported that 1,300 sites had published news and reports in support of jihadist groups, especially ISIS, and that the Russian government had responded by blocking hundreds of sites. While the RT information has not been verified by a unbiased reliable source, the fact that the Russian government and its media paid such attention to ISIS online suggests Russia has invested time and resources to combat the threat ISIS poses through its online activity alone. 

In June 2016, a gunman claiming allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, Florida. Hillary Clinton, who was campaigning for the US presidency at the time, promised to “work with our great tech companies from Silicon Valley to Boston to step up our game. We have to a better job intercepting ISIS's communications, tracking and analyzing social media posts and mapping jihadist networks, as well as promoting credible voices who can provide alternatives to radicalization.”

Unprecedented Fears and a New Kind of Terrorism

In November 2015, terrorists killed at least 132 people and left more than 300 injured in Paris. Authorities believed that the attackers might have used game consoles to co-ordinate and plan their terrorist operation. Belgian home affairs and security minister Jan Jambon said that ISIS could have used Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) to communicate, and the reason the console was selected was that it is notoriously hard to monitor. “PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp,” Jambon said. Days later, Wired reported that there was no evidence for this, and that reports that a PS4 console had been found at the scene of the crime were incorrect. 

Of course, other jihadist and terrorist groups including Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Ansar al-Islam and their offshoots have sophisticated propaganda operations and use social media to spread their messages — but the scale of fear and panic around ISIS’s use of social media as a weapon is unprecedented. Governments and their intelligence and counter-terrorism agencies were clearly caught off guard, as is evident in their shock at the number of social media accounts and the extensive social media outreach employed by ISIS and its affiliates. 

In another report, the Brookings Institute said analysis of the digital audiovisual campaigns released by ISIS since January 2014 suggests the terror group had established a new kind of terrorism, using marketing and digital communication tools not only to “socialize terror” through public opinion as previous terrorist groups have done, but also for making terror popular, desirable, and imitable. This new phenomenon of unpredictable consequences, said the report, could be described as “marketing terrorism.”

ISIS has brought a change not only in the quantity, but also in the quality of the kind of propaganda that can be accessed. Unlike other Salafist-jihadist groups, it considers social media not just an “extra” in the service of its other activities, but a battleground in its own right. It has put experienced and skilled individuals in charge of its “cyberwarfare,” releasing professional, modern videos, content and imagery with impact. From concept to  production, in cinematography and in terms of editing, this output is polished and tailored to its audience. 

V for Vendetta

“The images released through social media are charged with images directly inspired by the modern culture of a young global audience,” writes a Brookings Institute analyst. “Qualitative analysis of all 845 campaigns [released between January 2014 and September 16, 2015] shows that more than 15 percent are directly inspired by real films, video games and music video clips of contemporary popular culture, such as the films Saw, The Matrix, American Sniper, and V for Vendetta; or video games like Call of Duty, Mortal Combat X and Grand Theft Auto. The terrorist group uses cultural images of modernity in order to promote a political project based on anti-modern values.”

ISIS started its social media campaign in 2013. At that time the videos published by the group were quite amateur. It was only after the city of Mosul fell to ISIS in June 2014 and after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the formation of the “Islamic State” that his media operatives started using the most modern tools of communication They published professional videos complete with character development for its fighters —  and even for ISIS executioners, who murdered their captives in the most horrifying manner in front of the camera. The videos have been calculated to both intimidate ISIS enemies, and win over converts.

The first professional video published by ISIS was called Infidels. In the video, 13 jihadists, each with a captive, step into the frame one by one. Twelve of the fighters wear khaki military outfits and black caps. They appear fit and in shape, leaving no doubt that the director of the film handpicked them for their military poise. The thirteenth individual — the main part — is dressed in traditional Afghan dress, and has covered his face with a black ski mask. While other jihadists stand around, he delivers a message in Arabic, speaking in a firm and rough voice and declaring that killing and beheading captives who are “infidels” and “heretics” is legitimate and appropriate. As he delivers his monologue, the viewer is presented with close-ups of the executioners and their soon-to-be victims. The latter are wearing black, their hair is combed and their faces are clean. There is no sign of terror in their eyes; it’s as though they have been hypnotized.

Terror in Slow Motion

After August 2014, when the United States launched a campaign to form an international coalition against the group, ISIS released a feature-length video entitled Flames. It demonstrated even more sophisticated production values, showing ISIS fighters in action in Iraq and Syria. And for the first time, ISIS video producers used the technique of slow motion to deliver an emotional impact. The narration is in English, the intended audience susceptible citizens from western countries.

Other ISIS media productions include electronic magazines and videos in different languages — in English, French, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, German, Indonesian, Arabic, Persian, Kurdish, Pashtu, and so on. In March, ISIS launched a film using a mixture of Persian, Baluchi and Arab languages. And then, less than two months on from the ISIS-claimed terrorist attacks in Tehran, it released a new Persian video with the apparent aim of recruiting disenfranchised Sunnis in some of Iran’s poorer areas. 

And yet the ISIS propaganda machine tries its hardest when the target audiences are western citizens. The result is that ISIS productions for western “markets” are distinctly more sophisticated and different from those aimed at other audiences.

In August 2014, ISIS posted a video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley. In the video, Foley is dressed in an orange shirt and pants, a clear reference to inmates at Guantanamo Bay. Then ISIS posted a video for the hearing-impaired entitled From Those Saved to Those yet-to-be Saved in an attempt to recruit its audience by convincing them that any physical disability would not stop them from supporting the Islamic Caliphate.

The main goals of ISIS in producing this vast array of videos and electronic magazines are, of course, spreading terror among its opponents and recruiting those who might be susceptible to its message. But it has another goal as well: Spreading fake news to distort truth about itself and about life in areas under its control. ISIS has repeatedly published videos and pictures that allegedly show life under the Islamic Caliphate. In none of these videos are there any signs of poverty or unemployment. Nobody complains about anything, as though by living under ISIS all of their problems have magically disappeared. These false images of a non-existent utopia have persuaded many young people from many countries to “migrate” to lands ISIS calls the “House of Islam” — and it’s all because of the powerful propaganda ISIS has cultivated.