Double-Edged Power: Soothe Some, Brainwash Others

Friday, November 13, 2015.

This is the day everyone remembers for the horrendous news of the Paris terrorist attacks, in which 130 people were killed. As the situation unfolded, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The French flag colors almost immediately flooded the global social space as a symbol through which people expressed sympathy, support and strength in the face of terror. Many added a blue, white and red filter to their Facebook profile pictures or commemorated the victims with moments of silence, candlelight vigils and social media postings.

Not only did social media’s power make it easier to express support, but it also helped spread the news and keep in contact with loved ones, said Christopher Bains, a Texas Tech assistant professor of French, who lived in Paris for 10 years and has friends and family  in France.

Yet, the empowerment and heartfelt support channeled via social media after the Paris attacks were bittersweet. After all, it was precisely online social networks that had enabled and strengthened the attack’s perpetrators.

In a televised weekend news conference after the Paris attacks, President Barack Obama described the IS group as a “bunch of killers with good social media.”

Since then, the hackivitst group Anonymous claims to have successfully taken more than 20,000 pro-IS group Twitter accounts offline.

For two Mississippi State University students, Jaelyn Young and Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, the shutting down of the IS group’s Twitter accounts came too late. Young was in contact with undercover FBI agents via Twitter, expressing her interest in fleeing to Syria and joining the IS group.

Using their honeymoon as a cover, the couple had planned to fly to Istanbul, Turkey, in hopes of getting on a bus to Syria and joining the IS group.

In a phone interview, Dennis Harmon, a disability attorney in Mississippi, said he is representing the Dakhlalla family, although not representing the case. He said he had known Muhammad, whom he called by his nickname “Mo,” and his family for 15 years.

Harmon said it was “thanks to social media” that the couple was arrested before it left the country to join the IS group.

Lea Hellmueller, a Texas Tech assistant professor of journalism and electronic media, said social media is used to target young people across the world, making it easier for the IS group to recruit new members. Most teens fall under the group’s persuasive spell, she said, because they feel excluded from society.

Infographic of American ISIS supporters in the legal system #ISISinAmerica pic.twitter.com/YV1p5NGt7t

— Program On Extremism (@gwupoe) December 1, 2015

“They are in this time … where they try to find an identity, but they have problems with drugs, alcohol, inequality, and they are mostly first-generation, second-generation immigrants,” Hellmueller said.

She said social media can be “very welcoming” for teens across the world, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.

Samer Altabaa, imam of the Islamic Center of the South Plains, said  social media is one of the main methods the IS group uses to recruit people. Because of its “big professional team,” he said, the group has managed to wield social media’s influence to recruit from outside its territory.

Altabaa holds special sessions at the mosque to ensure that young teens won’t get trapped by the IS social media recruitment machine. He also discusses the issue in weekly meetings and youth group gatherings.

Known supporters of the IS group in the U.S. are on average 26 years old and overwhelmingly male (86 percent), shows a report from the George Washington University’s Program On Extremism.

The American ISIS Twitter Scene #ISISinAmerica pic.twitter.com/45TFsn6rS7

— Program On Extremism (@gwupoe) December 1, 2015

The electronic jihadists are pitching the message that the the IS group can offer exceptional experience and benefits to new recruits. And it works. As of early 2015, jihadi groups in Syria had recruited more than 20,000 foreign fighters to join their cause, according to the Brookings Project on U.S. relations with the Islamic world. The study was commissioned by the Brookings Institution, which describes itself as “America’s top think tank.”

The research found social media propaganda is instrumental in the creating the IS group’s worldwide appeal. Media produced by the terrorist organization have high production values. On social media networks, the group makes an effort to ensure a wide reach, including pan-Islamic and non-Arabic-speaking audiences.

David Perlmutter, dean and professor in the College of Media & Communication, who studies how the IS group uses propaganda and visual persuasion techniques, said the organization has become “fabulously successful” in its recruitment.

The IS group recruits young women for support roles and to marry the fighters, along with “fan boys,” who do not personally go to Syria to fight but maintain an online presence, help pass on the group’s messages and videos.

But the main focus is on recruiting young men.

Added Perlmutter: “They’re fighting a lot of battles, and they’re having a lot of their warriors being killed, so they need to keep recruiting new young men to go fight for them.”