On social media and the youth: ISIS’ easy targets

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Islamic State (IS), started as an al Qaeda splinter group. The aim of ISIS is to create an Islamic state, referred to as a caliphate, across Sunni areas of Iraq and in Syria. [1]

Reports from cities where Isis has taken control are bleak, with public executions, beheadings, kidnap, amputations, torture and beatings among tactics used to maintain control. Isis has long targeted journalists and activists, and has been known to use suicide attacks and land mines against its opposition. [2] ISIS also brutalizes fellow Sunni and Shi’a Muslims who do not ascribe to its extreme interpretation of the religion. [3]

It is said that the success of ISIS in gaining world attention is its sophisticated social media strategy. The migration from Internet chat forums to social media platforms came late to jihadists, but they’ve adapted skillfully. [4]

UK surveillance chief Robert Hannigan has said ISIS and other extremist groups use platforms like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to reach their target audience in a language it understands. Their methods include exploiting popular hashtags to disseminate their message, he said. [5] The militants have repeatedly promoted videos using high-level production techniques to celebrate their brutality. [6]

“Analysts say that ISIS can appeal to young people's religious idealism and to a desire to escape the frustrations of life in the West. U.S. investigators studied the case of three teenage Colorado girls who tried to join ISIS last year to learn more about how the militant group recruits young people in the West. The FBI found examples of Westerners already in the ISIS fold who were communicating directly with new recruits via social media”.[7]

The social media strategy developed by ISIS in promoting its terrorist activities has attracted the youth who have a stronghold tie in online social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Youtube, and the likes. Its inclination to idealism, curiosity and enthusiasm in the internet has marked the youth as ISIS' easy target in propagating its radical ideas and the spread of global terrorism. An escape from a world of social hatred and ISIS' a promise of a good life may draw a green light for some young people to join the terrorist faction. This may delineate danger that could mark global threat in the future. 

As of now, ISIS might not be seen as a grave threat in the Philippines. However, considering its growing power and influence over the social media and how the Filipino youth is seen active in the online platform, a large possibility of ISIS’ recruitment of these young people might pose a threat in our nation. As the role of the youth in nation-building is constitutionally recognized, the ISIS predicament calls upon the attention of the government in developing its counter tactics in protecting the vulnerable minds of the Filipino youth, especially those in the areas of Mindanao.

 ___________________________

[1] ISIS Fast Facts. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/. last accessed March 6, 2015.

[2] Isis: What is Islamic State and how can it be stopped. http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/isis/59001/isis-who-are-they-and-can-they-be-stopped. last accessed March 6, 2015

[3] Lee Ferran and Rym Momtaz. ISIS: Trail of Terror. http://abcnews.go.com/WN/fullpage/isis-trail-terror-isis-threat-us-25053190. last accesed March 6, 2015.

[4] Jacob Siegel. ISIS is Using Social Media To Reach You, Its New Audience. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/31/isis-s-use-of-social-media-to-reach-you-its-new-audience.html. last accessed March 6, 2015.

[5] Jethro Mullen. What is ISIS' appeal for young people. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/25/middleeast/isis-kids-propaganda/. last accessed March 6, 2015. 

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.