ISIS: Tweeting Propaganda Towards Western Teens
By: Vincent Lee, Jaejun Ku, SeungHoon Choi
Edited by: Grace Oh
Designed by: Sarah Cho
On March 8, 2015, two teenage Australian brothers were found carrying vague return tickets to Middle Eastern “conflict zones”. Suspicious, customs called in counter-terrorism officers, who discovered the pair was carrying suspicious luggage. While they were luckily intercepted and returned home to their unaware parents, the event highlighted ISIS’s alarming influence over foreigners. The incident is a prime example of the effectiveness of ISIS’s recruitment strategies. But is there a method in the madness? What attracts young foreigners to fight for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria? |
“If you ask terrorists why they joined an organization after they have been in it, they will pair it with the official line of the group,” says Max Abrahms, an authority on terrorism from Northeastern University. “But in reality they don’t join the group for that reason.” It is a sense of belongingness, of adventure, that they seek in ISIS.
People who lack a strong sense of identity and purpose in their lives are easily captured by ISIS’s extreme actions against the perceived infidels they war against. They find a historical movement where they can do something with their lives, make a difference in their world. “Their online material shows capturing territory, establishing states, beheading enemies: they show that they are the sexiest jihadi group on the block,” says Matthew Levitt, the director of counterterrorism and intelligence at WINEP. ISIS reaches out to dissatisfied, often Muslim people and appeals to both jihad and personal wants. ISIS’s contemporary propaganda system in combination with their group image and ideology creates a steady stream of recruits that is challenging to stem. |
ISIS has a sophisticated propaganda system, something highly unusual for a terrorist organization. They encourage others to join ISIS through popular social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, using their own hashtags to share well-produced video that depict ISIS fighters as brave, selfless warriors doing Allah’s will. As a result, they have gained a wide swath of followers, most notably impressionable young adults.
They also promote a quality life in Syria. Foreign recruits allegedly receive "a house with free electricity and water provided to you due to the Khilafah (the caliphate or state) and no rent included," writes Asqa Mahmood, a female ISIS blogger and recruiter. “Sounds great, right?” Many active ISIS-affiliated bloggers like Mahmood also exist on the internet, providing recruits details on how to join, what to bring, and what to expect. |