‘American ISIS Twitter Scene’ Reveals Social Media’s Power to Radicalise

By Published on December 2, 2015

Islamic State sympathisers in America prefer Twitter to any other social media platform and use avatars of black flags, green birds and lions — including the Detroit Lions NFL team — in their online propaganda, a study has shown.

Having a Twitter account suspended has become a “badge of honour” among US-based Isis supporters, researchers found, and they are adopting increasingly sophisticated techniques to circumvent the authorities in a “never-ending cat-and-mouse game”.

The report, Isis in America: From Retweets to Raqqa, published on Tuesday by George Washington University’s programme on extremism, analysed the social media accounts and legal documents of nearly 400 American followers of Isis. It found that 14% are female, the average age is 26, two in five are Muslim converts and more than half have travelled or attempted to travel abroad.

It also pointed to a thriving “American Isis Twitter scene”. During the six-month study, researchers monitored almost 300 accounts. The activity showed how social media plays a crucial role in their radicalisation and, at times, mobilisation to fight in Iraq and Syria.

Read the article “‘American ISIS Twitter Scene’ Reveals Social Media’s Power to Radicalise” on theguardian.com.

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