Abstract
Jihad groups have made the internet a channel for their war, called Cyber Jihad. The Jihadists send messages, raise money, recruit members and spread propaganda via the internet and other social media. Through the use of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, jihadists communicate with one another and recruit new members. Cyber jihad, no only consists of communicating and radicalizing over the internet, jihadist groups use the internet to raise money to fund their fight. In addition, jihadist groups also publish online magazines for communication, recruitment and radicalizing. The use of the internet has allowed jihadist groups to gain global support of its goals and circulate its extremist ideals. The violence that jihadist groups seek is not merely against the physical bodies of the enemies, but also against their hearts and their minds, and these can be reached through the use of Cyber Jihad. As online technology advances, jihadist groups will become more global. The battle is no longer simply on the land and in the air, it is in the media.
In Arabic, Jihad means “effort” or “struggle”. The effort or struggle used by jihad terrorist groups are aimed at a war for Islam against the non-Islam. In this war, jihadists use violence against non-believers. Use of the internet by Jihadist groups to send messages, raise money, recruit members and spread propaganda has become common. This has become known as cyber jihad. The goal of these groups online were initially to disrupt communications, however, they have discovered that the internet is a valuable source for dissemination of material relating to their cause. The jihad group, Islamic State, extensively makes use of online media to disseminate propaganda. By using this avenue, the group has gained global support of its goals and circulation of its extremist ideals. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, AskFM, WhatsApp, Tumblr and other internet sites and online magazines are all used by the Islamic State . Through the use of these media avenues, the Islamic State has gained more than 18,000 troops residing in nearly 90 countries. Osama bin Laden also made use of internet technology in the late 1990’s, and Al-Qaeda has claimed that the battle they fight is in the media, claiming the battle is to gain the “hearts and minds” of the world. Communicating, radicalizing, recruiting, fundraising, money laundering and publishing are methods used online by Jihadist groups that have allowed the groups to expand throughout the world.
Jihadist groups communicate through the internet and various forms of social media. Some of the most popularly used social media sites used by jihadists include Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Jihadist groups use the internet and other social media to send messages to one another. Messages may not only include communications regarding daily activities but also include propaganda, information pertaining to targets of the group, and bomb making instructions. The bombings on 9/11 were discussed extensively through the use of the internet by Al-Qaeda. The internet and social media are valuable sources to jihadist groups as the communications are in real time and can be sent long distances.
Twitter is commonly used by jihadist groups. Al Shabaab, a jihadist group in Somalia that is affiliated with Al-Qaeda, uses Twitter for real time communications. This provides the ability to promote, debate, provoke and organize. Tweets can also be posted in a variety of languages throughout the world. Two years ago, the Islamic State had nearly 45,000 Twitter accounts. The Islamic State has even created a Twitter app to assist users. Dawn of Glad Tidings is an app available on Play Store created that allows tweets between centralized groups with the app. Another jihadist group called the Umm network uses Twitter to promote its extremist agenda as a normal lifestyle choice. Jihadist groups also tweet as incidents are occurring within groups, reporting injuries and deaths as well as the outcome of battles.
Facebook is also a very popular social media site that is being used to recruit jihadists. Both Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have numerous Facebook pages wherein they campaign for new members and in opposition to the West. The Islamic State is even reportedly using Facebook as a means to locate homosexuals in Iraq and Syria in order to exterminate them. Some jihad Facebook pages provide instructions for jihad fighting. Facebook has also been used by members to show support of jihad. Reportedly, the San Bernardino shooter, Tashfeen Malik, sent messages via Facebook to his Facebook friends indicating his support for Jihad.
YouTube is also a popular social media site for jihadist groups. YouTube has over one billion users worldwide with over 100 hours of video being uploaded on the site every hour. This makes YouTube a valuable asset of communication for jihadist groups. Typically, jihadist YouTube videos display suicide bombing footage, displays of martyrdom as well as educational forums for recruitment .
Many active terrorists, including the Boston Marathon bombings, and others, were radicalized by internet and social media. These are the methods the jihadists used to inspire the acts of terror. Websites are browsed are sermons are viewed that promote terror. Many become self-radicalized through the inspiration attained from these sites. The internet not only intensifies radicalization, it also facilitates and even accelerates it. Ideas are validated and support is facilitated from those who are like minded. Those with already partly radicalized ideas get online and find support for these ideas which are accepted and then encouraged. Videos, tutorials and propaganda are posted on the internet with the sole purpose of recruiting. In using the internet to recruit, jihadist groups also use other non-internet sources to complement the online recruitment. Thus, they are enhancing and accelerating the recruitment process.
Funding has also developed through the use of the internet. The internet is an avenue for jihadist groups to disseminate information and a forum to meet anonymously. They also engage use tweets, streams, blogs, instant messages video share and Instagram as a means to promote their exploits. Use of these forums is in real time and allows the jihadists to transmit graphic images and audio messages instantly, which assists in promoting terror and in recruitment. Using Twitter, ISIS had created a campaign to raise money to kill Israeli Jews. The twitter message asked for donations which would allow for the purchase of a grenade launcher to be used on the Israeli Jews. The campaign was also initiated on Telegram, Skype and Gmail with videos and posters. The online fundraising is an active method used by ISIS to raise money for the terrorist group. A grenade launcher costs $3,000, a Katyusha rocket is $900, a Grad missile costs $4,000 with long range missiles costing $10,000 and a sniper rifle and PK machine gun cost around $6,000 . Al-Qaeda also established an online fundraiser using YouTube and Twitter. On these sites, the group provides phone numbers in which supporters can call to send money to jihad groups
In addition to various webpages and sites, Jihadist groups publish online magazines. Inspire magazine is a magazine created by Al-Qaeda . Inspire seeks mainly to radicalize the younger generation throughout the world, however, mostly in the United States and Britain. The magazine includes inspiration stories, reports as well as instruction to make bombs. The magazine explains that the jihadist “attempts will not stop at any border. This war aims at and makes the strongholds of Islam its objective. It invades lands, houses as well as intellects. Inspire publishers hope to prepare the world for jihad.
Dabiq magazine is an online magazine created by the Islamic State. The magazine is released in many languages across the world and contains objectives that are religious, political and military. The magazine describes events occurring within the Islamic State and also recruit members. The magazines portray horrifying images of corpses as a psychological tool to gain fighters. The Islamic State also has a media wing called Al-Furqan. Al-Furqan posts messages from leaders of the Islamic State and tweets information among Islamic State media sites.
Jihadist groups make use of the internet for various other reasons as well. Online sources have been used by jihadist groups to launder money through gambling web sites. These also are used to raise money . Additionally, Al-Qaeda is seeking to create an online Jihad University so that they have a worldwide community that can be trained without having to travel to the Middle East. Google Maps is also used by jihadist groups to provide target information.
The effort or struggle by jihad groups is real, and it effects the entire world as the groups have made use of online sources. Jihad groups are fighting a war and has made the internet a channel. The groups send messages, raise money, recruit members and spread propaganda. Finding that they could do more than just disrupt communications through the use of the internet, jihadist groups have become quite skilled online. Using Twitter, they reach millions of people all across the world to not only induce membership and spread information but also to spread terror. With Facebook, jihadist groups provide instructions on bomb making and directions for fighting in their war. Facebook has hundreds of active jihadist group pages. With YouTube, the groups have sent thousands of videos among the millions sent daily to any willing viewer, displaying horrendous videos hoping to inspire radicalism in its viewing. Besides communicating and radicalizing over the internet, jihadist groups use it to raise and launder money. Fund raising involved the alleged purpose of military type weapons for use by the fighters. Donations are sought in the thousands for warfare artillery. In addition, a couple jihadist groups are publishing online magazines. These magazines are published regularly and can be viewed by any individual browsing the internet. Within the magazines are articles and photos that seek to recruit and radicalize. The use of the internet has allowed jihadist groups to has gained global support of its goals and circulation of its extremist ideals. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, AskFM, WhatsApp, Tumblr and other internet sites and online magazines are all used. Social media avenues has allowed jihadist groups to gain thousands of fighters in nearly one hundred countries across the world. The violence that jihadist groups seek are not merely against the physical body of the enemies but also against their hearts and their minds. Cyber Jihad and its ability to communicate, recruit, radicalize, raise and launder money and publish extensive propaganda and articles places them everywhere. And, as technology advances online, jihadist groups will also advance online. The battle is no longer simply on the land and in the air, it is in the media.
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