Target audience[edit]
ISIS targets a variety of different groups both in the Middle East and Western Countries. There are a wide variety of motives for why fighters may be prompted to join ISIS. Researchers from Quantum cite nine attributes characteristic of a fighter looking to join ISIS: status seeking, identity seeking, revenge, redemption, thrill, ideology, justice, and death.[4]
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.[4] Middle Eastern recruits come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in Northern Iraq. Recent destruction in the Iraq War and Syrian Civil War has created hatred of Western Powers 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.[5]
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.
Usage of the dark web[edit]
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; thus, it posts a variety of content on the Dark Web as well as their own internally generated platforms.[25] ISIS's usage of dark web has made anti-terrorism 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.[9]
Relevant impact of the ISIS social media usage[edit]
ISIS social media posts have mobilized ordinary citizens throughout the world and other radical jihadists 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 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.[26] 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.[26] 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."[27]
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:
Companies are also taking action to hinder ISIS social media recruitment attempts. Google’s ThinkTank, Jigsaw, launched a collaboration with YouTube in July, 2017 to redirect any potential recruits using the Redirect Method.[3] 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.[29]
“The Redirect Method uses Adwords 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.”[30]
By using this tactic, Jigsaw catches slogans that manifest any positive ISIS sentiments, like Baqiyah wa Tatamadad ('Remaining and Expanding'), and Al Dawla Al Islameyah, which includes al-Dawla, 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.[31]