The Islamic State group, or IS (ISIS) is a name that has seldom been far from news headlines over past two years. After establishing a religious caliphate in swathes of Syria and Iraq, the radical Islamist group has gained global attention for the violent rule it has imposed in these regions. While the Islamic State group’s physical control may be confined to the territories it has claimed, its sphere of influence extends far beyond. The Islamic State group has successfully used the Internet and social media to spread both fear and its ideals, making it a uniquely digital terrorist organization.
The Islamic State group has utilized the Internet to cultivate fear by releasing execution footage online. One example is the beheading of American journalist James Foley, during which he read the scripted message that his "real killer" was America. Another is the video of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kassasbeh being burned to death while inside a cage.
Terrorist groups such as al-Qaida have been known to stage public executions, but the Islamic State group is the first to film these executions in an almost cinematic quality. With the use of clear sound and theatrical image resolution, Islamic State group members capture the agony of its victims in intimate, graphic detail. Unlike infiltrating a country’s borders to wage a full-blown attack, the Islamic State group’s methods of spreading terror to the rest of the world have been done remotely through the use of digital technology and the Internet.
These methods are also in line with the group’s goals as an organization. Unlike al-Qaida, the Islamic State group is much more preoccupied with the establishment of a religious caliphate than it is with terrorizing the West. A terrorist attack on a foreign country requires time and resources the Islamic State group needs to devote to the control of its territories. In contrast, releasing videos online is a flexible, cost-effective method of disseminating fear worldwide.
The Islamic State group also uses the Internet and social media to spread its ideology and gain recruits. With an advanced propaganda machine fueled by Facebook and Twitter, it has successfully encouraged up to 4,000 Westerners to travel to Syria and Iraq to become new recruits, according to a report published by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue.
Among these recruits were three teenage girls from London: Khadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum. After engaging with Islamic State group recruiters via social media, the three girls boarded a flight to Istanbul and then crossed into Syria without their parents’ knowledge. This demonstrates not only the reach of ISIS’s online presence, but also its sophistication. ISIS was able to forge a personal relationship with these girls that was strong enough to convince them to abandon their homes and families to join its cause.
The Islamic State group has also been known to hijack trending Twitter hashtags to broaden the scope of its audience. In August 2014, the hashtag #napaquake was intended to express sympathy for victims of northern California’s earthquakes. Islamic State group Twitter accounts added this hashtag to tweets featuring gruesome photos of dead soldiers accompanied with threats to the U.S. and President Obama. Similar tweets were created using hashtags related to the World Cup and incidents in Ferguson, Missouri.
Through violence and the espousal of ideals far removed from the peaceful values of Islam, the Islamic State group is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with. The brutality and violence of its regime may be considered primitive, but its incredibly strategic use of the Internet and social media is nothing if not modern, and that should be cause enough for concern.
Namwan Leavell is a UF economics senior. Her column appears on Fridays.
