Module Overview: Terrorism and the Use of Social Media
This week’s videos and readings will focus on the threat of the use of social media by terrorists. When the use of social media became popular among individuals and groups all over the world, it is also evident that various terrorist groups are also using the social media to communicate with each other, including with their followers. International terrorist groups, such as so-called ISIS or IS, Jabhat al Nusra, Al-Qaeda, etc., are using social media to communicate with their followers, other groups and even publish their missions and activity in the name of ‘Jihad’ through the Internet, which is a very frightening trend in recent days. Experts claim that the increasing involvements of the jihadist with social networks are increasing the risk of terror attacks around the world.
Police and other intelligence organizations in the world also work actively monitoring various social media platforms and websites, and removing offending accounts or materials more effectively which leads to frequently changing the account and the online habits of the terrorist groups. As a result of this, monitoring terrorist activities are becoming more challenging to the social media companies and the security agencies across the world. That being said, there is a couple of important questions that come in our mind; for example, why are terrorist using the social media for their activities? And what could the law enforcement/intelligence community do to contain this activity?
