winning the internet war is key in daesh fight
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Using videos to lure foreigners to battlefields

Winning the Internet war is key in Daesh fight

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice Winning the Internet war is key in Daesh fight

An image by propaganda Islamist media outlet Welayat Tarablos
Washington - Arab Today

The Internet has become a crucial battleground in the fight against jihadist propaganda and Western nations need to step up their game, according to participants in a Washington meeting on countering radical groups.
Experts say governments must engage in corporate-style marketing if they are to combat the Daesh, which is using slick videos to lure foreign nationals to the battlefields of Iraq and Syria.
"If Daesh has a branding and marketing department, where is ours?" said Sasha Havlicek, the founding chief executive officer of the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (Daesh).
The think tank has carried out several experiments using Google Ideas, Twitter and Facebook to try to directly engage with potential recruits -- and dissuade them from joining the brutal jihadist movement.
In one campaign, Daesh released several videos of Abdullah X -- a fictional character who tries to convince young Muslims that following Daesh is not the way forward.
"We were able to 'hypercharge' that content -- inserting him in the very spaces the extremists were using (...) anchoring this content to extremist Twitter accounts, posting it on extremist pages, having it pop out whenever you search for jihad in Syria," said Havlicek.
"And within a few months, this went from reaching 50 people to 100,000 people of our target group of individuals searching to go to Syria for jihad," she said.
The best indicator of success was that Daesh responded by running five pages of "urgent refutation" of the arguments of Abdullah X, she added.
Daesh think tank also launched a pilot project using Facebook to "walk back people from the edge" of extremism by proposing a one on-one chat with people expressing interest in violent jihad.
"Right now, only extremist groups and intelligence services are really engaging with this constituency online," Havlicek said.
The next step is to see "if see if that outreach can be automated," she added.
For that to happen, private companies with well-developed online marketing strategies can offer that knowledge to associations and activists working against the Daesh message, Havlicek said.
- Counter 'brainwashing' -
The US government is already working to weaken extremist groups online -- a digital blitz involving a State Department team that posts opinion pieces on radical Islam, cartoons and graphic photos.
One senior department official told AFP last year that it was akin to guerrilla warfare.
During the summit, US President Barack Obama urged local communities in America and abroad to take the initiative to protect groups who act in the hopes of "brainwashing young Muslims."
Sessions on Wednesday highlighted existing anti-extremist programs in Boston, Minneapolis-Saint Paul and greater Los Angeles, which involve community policing and other tactics.
The US State Department announced the appointment of a special counter-terrorism communications coordinator, Rashad Hussain, but it was unclear what concrete outcomes there would be.
It is also going to help students around the world to develop digital content that counters the extremist message.   
Peter Neumann, the director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization, says while everyone done so far to counter extremist groups is "great," it's "only a drop in the ocean."
He said there has been much talk about removing extremist content from the Internet altogether, but that is not a fail-safe solution.
Source: AFP

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

winning the internet war is key in daesh fight winning the internet war is key in daesh fight

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

winning the internet war is key in daesh fight winning the internet war is key in daesh fight

 



GMT 11:30 2012 Monday ,09 January

Mutah University workers demand pay raise

GMT 16:28 2011 Thursday ,29 December

Scottish universities ordered to widen access

GMT 13:14 2013 Tuesday ,19 March

Qatar’s al-Jazeera to launch UK, French channels

GMT 13:24 2014 Monday ,01 September

Pakistan anti-PM protesters storm state TV

GMT 08:54 2017 Friday ,28 July

Major terrorist plot foiled in Saudi Arabia

GMT 09:23 2017 Monday ,17 July

Tropical Storm,leaves one dead

GMT 13:02 2017 Thursday ,27 July

Iraqi army prepares for a new operation in Diyala

GMT 09:14 2012 Thursday ,16 August

Modern \'Reading Furniture\' range

GMT 05:37 2018 Monday ,08 January

Explosion at Syria jihadist base kills 23: monitor

GMT 23:00 2011 Monday ,19 December

Alessandra Ambrosio Tweets Behind The Scenes Photo

GMT 09:10 2017 Wednesday ,29 November

UN chief strongly condemns N. Korea missile launch

GMT 17:57 2016 Monday ,15 August

‘Godless’ scoops top prize at Swiss film fest

GMT 15:07 2016 Monday ,12 September

Denzel’s role in new movie makes him a kid again

GMT 11:32 2012 Thursday ,20 December

Funny film breaks box office boundaries

GMT 12:10 2011 Sunday ,19 June

Ukraine\'s Naftogaz estimates gas pipe network
 
 Emirates Voice Facebook,emirates voice facebook  Emirates Voice Twitter,emirates voice twitter Emirates Voice Rss,emirates voice rss  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

emiratesvoieen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen
emiratesvoice emiratesvoice emiratesvoice
emiratesvoice
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice