When Jihadi Ideology Meets Social Media

This book is designed to provide specialists, spectators, and students with a brief and engaging exploration of media usage by radical groups and the laws regulating these grey areas of Jihadi propaganda activities. The authors investigate the use of religion to advance political agendas and the legal challenges involved with balancing regulation with free speech rights. The project also examines the reasons behind the limited success of leading initiatives to curb the surge of online extreme speech, such as Google’s “Redirect Method” or the U.S. State Department’s campaign called “Think Again.” The volume concludes by outlining a number of promising technical approaches that can potently empower tech companies to reduce religious extremist groups’ presence and impact on social media.

This interdisciplinary Handbook provides an in-depth analysis of the complex security phenomenon of disinformation and offers a toolkit to counter such tactics. Disinformation used to propagate false, inexact or out of context information is today a frequently used tool of political manipulation and information warfare, both online and offline. This Handbook evidences a historical thread of continuing practices and modus operandi in overt state propaganda and covert information operations. Further, it attempts to unveil current methods used by propaganda actors, the inherent vulnerabilities they exploit in the fabric of democratic societies and, last but not least, to highlight current practices in countering disinformation and building resilient audiences. The Handbook is divided into six thematic sections. The first part provides a set of theoretical approaches to hostile influencing, disinformation and covert information operations. The second part looks at disinformation and propaganda in historical perspective offering case study analysis of disinformation, and the third focuses on providing understanding of the contemporary challenges posed by disinformation and hostile influencing. The fourth part examines information and communication practices used for countering disinformation and building resilience. The fifth part analyses specific regional experiences in countering and deterring disinformation, as well as international policy responses from transnational institutions and security practitioners. Finally, the sixth part offers a practical toolkit for practitioners to counter disinformation and hostile influencing. This handbook will be of much interest to students of national security, propaganda studies, media and communications studies, intelligence studies and International Relations in general.

This book explores how ordinary Arab-speaking social media users have reacted to propaganda from the Islamic State, rather than how IS propaganda has targeted ordinary users, thus providing a change in perspective in the literature. The authors provide a comprehensive account of the evolution of the Arabic discourse on IS, encompassing all phases of the Caliphate’s political evolution, from the apogee of the Islamic State in October 2014 to the loss of its unofficial capital of Raqqa in September 2017. Taking into account key events, the book also considers the most recurrent topics for IS and its opponents who engage in the Twitter conversation. The analysis is based on around 29 million tweets written in the Arabic language, representing a random sample of around one-third of all Arabic tweets referring to IS over the 2014-2017 timeframe.

From a technological standpoint, geography is largely irrelevant. Data flows through the internet without regard for political borders or territories. Services, communication, and interaction can occur online between persons who may be in different countries. Illegal activities, like hacking, cyberespionage, propagating terrorist propaganda, defamation, revenge porn, and illegal marketplaces may all be remotely targeted and accessed from various countries. As such, the internet has created an interesting and complex set of challenges for the concept of jurisdiction and conflicts of law. This title takes a comparative approach covering the EU, UK, US, Germany, and China. Broken into four parts, this book delves into the notion of jurisdiction as it relates to the internet. Part I focuses on the different meanings of the concept of jurisdiction, from a legal and historical perspective, and distinguishing between the different branches of government. It will highlight the challenges created by the internet, including social media and cloud computing. Part II analyses criminal jurisdiction, in regards to both jurisdictions in cybercrime cases and jurisdictional issues relating to criminal investigations (access to the cloud) and enforcement. Part III examines jurisdiction and applicable law in civil and commercial matters, such as e-commerce B2B and B2C contracts, torts typically occurring online, and online defamation and privacy infringement. Finally, Part IV looks at regulatory jurisdiction, examining the power of the executive (whether an arm of government or independent regulator) to apply and enforce national law. It will look at aspects like the provision of online audio-visual media services and online gambling services, both of which are heavily regulated, but which can be easily provided remotely from different jurisdictions. The book concludes by analysing how the concept of jurisdiction should be adapted to ensure the rule of law by nation states and prevent international conflicts between states. This title gives a comprehensive look at the complicated subject of internet jurisdiction, essential for all dealing with jurisdictions in the modern age.

With the seeming defeat of ISIS, has jihadism disappeared from world politics? In this startling new book, Stephen Chan uncovers the ideological foundations that allow ISIS and other jihadi groups to survive, as they propagate terror by sophisticated means online and continue thrusting their spear at the West. Far from presenting simple-minded, black-clad fighters, Chan describes an elaborate process of online recruitment, which is, in its own terrible way, meaningful and thoughtful. He examines the foundations of this thought and the step-by-step methods of jihadi indoctrination, exposing the lack of IT knowledge among Western world leaders and urging the 'moderate' Islamic community in the West to challenge jihadi ideology with a courageous, non-violent ideology of its own. Without a counter-ideology, Chan argues, alienated Muslim youth are drawn not only to glamorized dreams of violence, but also to the pull of a totalizing system of politics and theology. Spear to the West picks apart the fallacy of 'thoughtless' jihadi carnage, arguing that--dangerous and gruesome as it might be--there is more thought behind this phenomenon of destruction than meets the eye.

Explores the use of images, sounds and videos in Jihadi media and how people engage with them

This book is a timely and significant examination of the role of counter-messaging via social media as a potential means of preventing or countering radicalization to violent extremism. In recent years, extremist groups have developed increasingly sophisticated online communication strategies to spread their propaganda and promote their cause, enabling messages to be spread more rapidly and effectively. Counter-messaging has been promoted as one of the most important measures to neutralize online radicalizing influences and is intended to undermine the appeal of messages disseminated by violent extremist groups. While many such initiatives have been launched by Western governments, civil society actors, and private companies, there are many questions regarding their efficacy. Focusing predominantly on efforts countering Salafi-Jihadi extremism, this book examines how feasible it is to prevent or counter radicalization and violent extremism with counter-messaging efforts. It investigates important principles to consider when devising such a program. The authors provide both a comprehensive theoretical overview and a review of the available literature, as well as policy recommendations for governments and the role they can play in counter-narrative efforts. As this is the first book to critically examine the possibilities and pitfalls of using counter-messaging to prevent radicalization or stimulate de-radicalization, it is essential reading for policy makers and professionals dealing with this issue, as well as researchers in the field.