The fight against ISIS is moving to a new level: how twitter is at war with the caliphate. Crimes in controlled territory

Statements per page Jack Dorsey, the founder of the social network Twitter, are getting tougher against the terrorists of the "Islamic State" 1 (ISIS 1, ISIS 1, the organization is banned in Russia), who spread hatred in microblogs.

Federal news agency presents a translation of the article " Twitter continues to wage its own war against ISIS” (Twitter continues to wage its own war against ISIS), published on the New York Post portal. Article author - Carleton English(Carleton English).

Dorsey said on March 21 that in the second half of 2016, his social platform blocked 376,890 accounts for promoting terrorism, up 60% from August 2015. For every terrorism-related account suspended, there were 850 active Twitter users. As of December, the social network had 319 million active users. Twitter's move, which has shut down 636,248 terrorism-related accounts since August 2015, comes at a time when the government is trying to stop terrorist groups from using social media to recruit followers.

“It will be interesting to see what contribution Twitter makes in the future so that it doesn’t turn out that they hit blindly trying to block accounts,” he said in an interview with The York Post. Michael Salmeyer, Director of the Cybersecurity Project at Harvard Kennedy University. "Twitter should also continue to fight this threat, while being careful not to infringe on free speech."

Of those accounts blocked in the last six months of 2016, nearly 75% were identified using Twitter's own anti-spam mechanisms - about double the number found in August, according to the company's 10th semi-annual report. Less than 2% of blockings were made as a result of requests from governments of different countries.

While Dorsey-led Twitter continues to ramp up its efforts to block terror accounts, the company acknowledged last August that there was no "magic algorithm" to identify such users. Then Twitter reported that 235,000 accounts were blocked between February 5 and August 18 last year.

“It’s good that Twitter released a report,” says with some skepticism Faiza Patel, director of the Freedom and Homeland Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. “But how many of the 600,000 accounts have the same owner?”

Patel adds that it would be helpful if Twitter could confirm that blocked users will not be able to find new ways to return to the social platform. Data on the effectiveness of blocking terrorism-related pages in in social networks unconvincing. On the one hand, blocking accounts limits the reach of the group, but new Accounts could easily reappear, and the ability to collect data on such groups could be severely affected, she says.

"Still, I want to know what types of accounts have been blocked," Patel said, adding that it's important to break down terrorist groups that already have their pages blocked.

In February 2016, when Twitter first reported that it had blocked some users for advocating terrorism, it claimed that more than 125,000 accounts "primarily associated with ISIS" had been blocked between mid-2015 and February 2016.

1 The organization is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The Ministry of Propaganda was created in the caliphate, which in 2014-2016 was headed by A. al-Adnani, who was also the official spokesman for ISIS. The department was engaged in organizing the production and distribution of extremist content based on the instructions of the Legal Council of the Islamic State and the High Military Command. The structure of the Ministry of Propaganda included the media department, the main and auxiliary media agencies, as well as relatively independent media offices inside and outside the IS – more than 30 structures in total with their own staff. Information products were disseminated through traditional media and the Internet, with the latter given priority.

“Salaries in the ISIS media structures far exceeded the allowance of terrorists risking their lives on the battlefield”

By mid-2015, caliphate technicians and IS supporters in different countries a huge community was created that distributed terrorist propaganda materials around the world. He was opposed by intelligence agencies and Internet control agencies in many states, who regularly deleted accounts associated with the Islamic State, but those were quickly restored, often under the same names. The technical department of the Ministry of Propaganda began to widely use bots, which constantly sent out extremist materials to users.

All this allowed experts to talk about the emergence of the Virtual Caliphate in the global Internet space. Through him, supporters of terrorists in foreign countries, radical Muslim youth could get acquainted with the materials prepared by the media department of the caliphate, as well as communicate with each other, listen and read sermons of extremist preachers. The US State Department estimated that in early 2015, more than 90,000 tweets and social responses were generated daily on behalf of IS.

It should be recognized that all IS propaganda materials were produced with high quality, were distinguished by intelligibility and clarity, contained infographics, and other means of attracting the attention of readers and users. The texts were supplemented with photo and video materials from the scene, which created the effect of presence, even more interested in the audience.

According to available information, IS has spent tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars on propaganda activities. Several hundred highly qualified specialists worked in the information bodies of the caliphate: journalists, cameramen, editors, and representatives of other specialties. Among them were representatives different states preparing materials for audiences in their countries and regions, who promptly translated from Arabic into other languages materials prepared by the Ministry of Propaganda. In 2016, content was translated into 40 languages, including quite rare ones, which made it possible to introduce IS a large number of Internet users.

The salary of such employees far exceeded the allowance of the infantry of the IS, risking their lives on the battlefield. It should be noted that the employees of the Ministry of Propaganda worked on the most modern equipment and office equipment, which ensured the high quality of the materials produced.

Another feature of the propaganda work of the Ministry of Propaganda of the Caliphate was the creation of a corporate style - the unification of logos and fonts, methods of presenting materials. Particular attention was paid to the operational coverage of major terrorist attacks. They were presented as official press releases similar to those used by the world news agencies.

The following information and propaganda structures were most active in the IS propaganda ministry:

Al-Khayat Media Center specialized in spreading extremist ideology among foreign citizens, issued propaganda magazines "Dabik", "Istok", "Dar-al-Islam", "Constantinople", "Rumia" and a number of others on foreign languages, including Russian; as well as feature films;
the Aamaq news agency provided daily text and video reports from combat areas in Iraq, Syria and other countries;
the news agency Nashir News published news and photo reports on subversive actions carried out by IS militants and their supporters;
the al-Bayan news agency distributed audio reports on the combat activity of IS units via the Internet, and also published the weekly newspaper al-Naba;
media agency "Furat" prepared and distributed videos about " happy life» residents of the caliphate, as well as materials of religious content;
Al-Himma publishing house distributed religious extremist appeals for the inhabitants of the caliphate and Arab countries;
regional media agencies in Egypt (Sinai Peninsula), Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nigeria, Somalia and some other countries distributed reports, photo and video reports from the areas of actions by militants of groups that swore allegiance to the Islamic State;
media center "Ashkhad" was engaged in replication of electronic posters, leaflets and infographics;
media agency "Rimah" was responsible for the distribution of video propaganda materials;
the Ajnad media center prepared and posted on the Internet video materials with extremist religious chants.

Keep up with the times

The nature of the propaganda content, in accordance with the instructions of the leadership and ideologues of the IS, underwent changes in accordance with the evolving situation. Initially, the main attention was paid to showing and praising the "ideal state formation" created on the basis of the experience of the Arab Caliphate that existed in the 7th-9th centuries, which belonged to the largest empires in world history.

“The number of those wishing to become suicide bombers not only did not decrease, but at certain moments even increased”

IS propagandists prepared materials under headings such as "The Ideal Caliphate - Paradise on Earth", "Successful Administration of Territories Within the Caliphate", "Unconditional Rule of the Sharia". Specially filmed stories about the daily life of cities and villages were distributed. happy people living in a festive atmosphere, about fair officials who successfully managed everyday life Caliphate and watching mores.

Then more and more stories began to appear about super-harsh reprisals against those who committed "religious crimes", enemies of the ISIS, prisoners who did not agree to join the ranks of the organization. The demonstration of executions with naturalistic details was intended to intimidate the enemies and force them to abandon the fight against the Caliphate.

At the height of the hostilities against ISIS in Iraq and then in Syria, special attention was paid to stories about the consequences of air raids by "ruthless crusaders" on peaceful cities and villages, showing a large number of victims, mostly young children and women. These materials were accompanied by calls for revenge on those who ordered the strikes, as well as on the direct perpetrators.

To attract volunteers from abroad who want to participate in the armed struggle against the opponents of the IS, special films were created, which combined fragments about great history Caliphate, his “happy life”, as well as the crimes of the “crusader enemies” who seek to destroy this “paradise on Earth” and all its inhabitants. At the same time, examples of "charity and camaraderie" were shown among those who participated in the battles. Such materials were prepared in many foreign languages and, it must be admitted, were effective, as they contributed to the arrival of several tens of thousands of recruits from abroad.

When the course of hostilities began to turn unfavorably for ISIS, a large number of propaganda materials began to be produced calling on militants and supporters to commit suicide terrorist acts. This content, especially the videos, was prepared at a high artistic level using special techniques and, as far as one can judge, had a great emotional impact on the audience. For this reason, the number of people wishing to become suicide bombers not only did not decrease, but even increased at certain moments. AT recent times began to prepare such materials intended for adolescents and women.

The defeats in Iraq and Syria have changed the content of IS propaganda. Reports and films showed the "exploits and valor" of the militants who successfully resisted the superior forces of the enemy. Materials were being prepared for foreign audiences, calling for a transition to the "lone wolf" tactics, the use of new methods of attack in urban environments.

The greatest scale of activity of the IS propaganda ministry was noted in 2015 and especially in 2016. Up to 80 different text, audio, photo and video materials were released daily, more than 10 thousand posts related to IS appeared on social networks, and up to a thousand new accounts were created on Twitter alone. The virtual caliphate, despite the opposition it received, did not slow down its activity.

Fragments of a media empire

The main propaganda structures of the Ministry of Propaganda were located in Iraqi Mosul and Syrian Raqqa. They managed and coordinated the activities of all media agencies, publishers and regional organizations. After the loss of these cities, centralized leadership ended, some structures closed, others switched to an autonomous mode of operation. The publication of all magazines has ceased, the number of videos has significantly decreased.

In January-October 2017, about seven thousand various reports and information materials with the IS logo were produced. Their quality has deteriorated significantly. Almost ceased to publish materials in foreign languages. Most of the footage featured footage of individual fights or a compilation of scenes that were used in films from 2015-2016.

In November-December, there was a further decline in the information and propaganda activities of the defeated terrorist group. The appearance of short reports by the Aamaq agency about individual attacks by surviving IS units in desert areas in Iraq and Syria was noted, photo and video clips became a rarity. Volumetric propaganda materials have disappeared from the Web, the number of accounts and posts of supporters of the terrorist group has decreased. To date, information activity has been reduced to leaflets, often of poor quality.

It can be stated that along with the defeat of the military core of the Islamic State, serious damage was also done to the Virtual Caliphate, which lost the ability to carry out subversive work on a global scale. However, information battles are not over yet. Attempts to recreate a new terrorist propaganda center can be expected where favorable conditions are created for this.

The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group began to form in Syria and Iraq in 2013. In the summer of 2014, IS militants already controlled 35% of Syria and most of its gas and oil fields. The total area under the control of the group was estimated at 40-90 thousand square meters. km. According to the American research center IHS, since then, by the spring of 2016, the group has lost about 22% of the territory.

population

According to the GRU, the ISIS army has about 33,000 fighters, including 19,000 in Iraq and 14,000 in Syria. The Pentagon estimates the number of militants at 31,000. The composition of the army is international. In March 2016, British intelligence agencies announced that, according to their information, citizens of 50 states were fighting on the side of the Caliphate. 70% of them are in the Arab countries, but the leaders in the number of mercenaries from European countries are France, Germany and the UK. Earlier, in December 2015, the FSB reported about 2,000 Russians fighting on the side of the Caliphate.

Reuters

The taxable population in the controlled territories in 2014 totaled 9 million people. In 2016, due to territorial losses, it was reduced to 6 million. The Pentagon claims that the number of those fighting on the side of the IS during this time has decreased by 6 thousand.

Economy

The main sources of financing for ISIS are the smuggling of hydrocarbon raw materials and antiques, as well as extortion from the population in the occupied territories. IS sells oil at a reduced price to neighboring countries through intermediaries. According to various sources, the IS profit from such trade could amount to $1-3 million per day. According to a study by the European Center for the Analysis of Terrorism, in 2015 the Islamic State received $ 2.4 billion in this way, becoming the most financially secure terrorist group in the world.

Nevertheless, the active hostilities deployed against the caliphate in recent times are changing the situation. Thus, IS's revenues from the sale of oil fell over the year from $1 billion to $600,000, from the sale of gas from $490,000 to $350,000.

Weapon

ISIS is armed with tanks, armored personnel carriers, recoilless guns, anti-tank systems and anti-aircraft weapons, including man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems. According to human rights activists international organization Amnesty International, Islamic State militants use over 100 weapons originating in about 25 countries. Like RT before, it has been flowing uncontrollably into Iraq in recent decades.

Reuters

At the same time, the bulk of the weapons were supplied to the region by the United States and its allies. Most of it was captured by militants from the Iraqi army armed by Washington.

Propaganda

Many experts call propaganda, which is carried out professionally, using new technologies and masterfully following modern trends, the most important weapon of ISIS. Videos of ISIS executions have become widely known, most of which has its own plot, specially selected musical background and clear timing. The Islamic State has its own media services and media channels that broadcast news of the caliphate daily. Released in May 2014, the propaganda film The Clash of Swords was compared by some Western media with a product of professional cinema. Propaganda and recruitment is actively conducted through the Internet. To attract newcomers to their ranks, the media technologists of the caliphate produce not only videos, but also computer games. The main target of propaganda is the youth, average age— 23 years old.

Crimes in controlled territory

Brutal executions and destruction of ancient monuments - Business Cards IG. The number of such crimes has already exceeded tens of thousands. Thus, in 2015, the number of victims in the videos published by the Islamic State alone exceeded 5,000. Caliphate fighters pursue a policy of genocide against ethnic groups in Iraq and Syria: Yezidis, Christians, Turkmen, Kurds and representatives of other communities, including Sunnis .

The most notorious crime against cultural heritage was the destruction of Palmyra's monuments in the summer of 2015. Then the ancient temples of Bel (Baal) and Baalshamin were destroyed, the triumphal arch was plundered National Museum. The Islamic State militants also blew up dozens of Shiite mosques, destroyed the temple of Nabu in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud (in present-day Iraq. — RT), a monument of ancient architecture "Gate of God" near the city of Mosul, blew up the central library of Mosul, which stored 8-10 thousand unique publications.

Reuters

On the lands reclaimed from ISIS, specialists are working to restore the affected artifacts. The State Hermitage takes part in the restoration of historical monuments of Palmyra.

Crime outside IS

IS supporters attack civilians outside the region. Suffice it to recall the terrorist attacks on June 12, 2016 in the Pulse gay nightclub in the American city of Orlando, which killed 49 people, the explosions at the Brussels airport and the Brussels metro at the Malbec station on March 22, 2016 (34 victims), the terrorist attacks in Paris and its suburb on November 13, 2015 (130 dead). IS claimed responsibility for all these attacks.

*"Islamic State" terroristwhich group is banned in the Russian Federation.

The Internet, with its availability at a distance of a couple of clicks, has a huge mobilization potential. Here people easily unite according to their interests, and then, under a certain influence, they can show their interest in real life, together with members of their virtual group, or individually. Among Islamic radicals, ISIS was not the first to use Internet resources to promote their ideas, however, it was they who achieved maximum effect in internet jihad. In terms of the number of mentions per year, they surpassed Al-Qaeda five times (250 million links and articles against 45 million), recruiting 20 thousand foreigners through social networks. However, the control of the masses through online communities was first experienced in the Middle East five years ago during the Arab Spring. Since then, internet zombie technology has evolved to the point where it allows the Islamic State today to build its virtual empire according to the laws of the internet itself.

Western freedom of speech has turned ISIS into a hyped brand that is already autonomously replicating itself both on the Internet and in the sensationalized press. In just one month, at the very beginning of the bombing of the anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq, English title IG - ISIS has been mentioned by the press more than 4 million times, spreading to almost a million tweets. It was Twitter that became the launching pad for the digital construction of the world caliphate. His instruments rapid advance smashed the IS brand across mobile network phones, super-popular hashtags and memes. They allowed the Mujahideen to be presented in the top topic of cats - ISILCats or to issue an announcement about the capture of Baghdad to a request for a pop star's jaundiced adventure. Europol only recently took care of searching for terrorists in social networks and, of course, will close the five thousandth account dedicated to the life of cats in the Islamic State. However, technology does not stand still, and IS social marketing itself is at a very high level.

According to the law of Twitter, the Islamists “twittered” about themselves, and ordinary Twitterers multiplied this “twitter” according to the principle of network marketing. IS used the reverse principle of this social network, whose name goes back to the CIA program for the use of psychotropic substances during interrogations called Chatter (Twitter). ISIS technologists are so fond of network memes in neurolinguistic programming that they even called a film about the modest and righteous life of civilians within their borders Mujatweets - "Mujahideen's Twitter". However, behind the brutal cat warriors are experienced media analysts who monitor the behavior of the online audience and monitor their reaction to content, editing it in such a way that it influences more effectively.

IS accumulated all the previous experience of Internet technologies to mobilize protest in the Middle East, using the technology of the "Arab Spring". Back then, protest organizers used the mainstream networks for various purposes: Facebook to organize protests, Twitter to spread information, and YouTube to show it to the world. Such profiling allowed technologists to effectively mobilize the population of capitals in conditions of low Internet coverage in the countries themselves. In Egypt - 0.26%, in Tunisia - 0.1%, in Libya - 0.07%, in Yemen - 0.02%. However, in reality, back in 2005, the United States launched the “Hundred Dollar Computer” program in the Middle East, under which computers were generally distributed to schoolchildren in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan for free. Even then, the States were preparing to control the Arab world via the Internet. When Mubarak ordered the internet and cell phones to be turned off in Egypt, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally oversaw the provision of alternative means of communication.

It is significant that after the "Arab Spring" the popularity of the Internet in the Arab countries has increased. In Egypt, the number of Facebook users has grown more than sixfold, from 450,000 to 5 million, and Saudi Arabia ranks first in the world in terms of the number of video views on YouTube. Arabic language ranks first in the ISIS recruiting system before the English and Russians, and people from the Maghreb made up the command line of the Islamists. AT American wars the Arab world has already lost over half a million people, and now it has become the main supplier of "cannon fodder" for the construction of a utopian "caliphate". However, ISIS members have also learned to appeal to foreign youth audiences, using images and themes that are close to them. But most importantly: IS has found the most short cut to your viewer - through the phone screen, showing the "truth" first hand without a filter. It allows you to move the sympathetic viewer to the other side of the screen and give him a real weapon in his hands.

Reuters photo

The Islamic State (IS) group (banned in Russia) has intensified its propaganda campaign against Russia and the former Soviet republics. A department has been created within the IS structure that distributes materials via Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr for Russian-speaking users. It published a statement that the North Caucasus is part of the “Caliphate” and created several videos directed at militants who arrived in Iraq and Syria from Russia and neighboring countries.

A screenshot titled "Unity of the Mujahideen of the Caucasus" flashed on the Internet. He was born by the information department of the Caliphate. This branch has a name, but it is blocked on the Russian Internet in accordance with the requirement of the law on information, information technology and information protection.

The employees of the branch published a declaration declaring the North Caucasus a province of the "Caliphate", and also released dozens of interviews with militants fighting in Syria and Iraq into the information space. As the London Guardian points out, the site's production used to be sketchy. It was produced outside the territory controlled by ISIS. The videos had no text explanations. Moreover, most of them were already distributed in Arabic.

And now propaganda materials in Russian are being prepared in Syria and Iraq. Twitter and Facebook are trying to remove accounts that draw the IS line. However, according to the American Brookings Institution, at the end of last year there were 46,000 accounts preaching jihad. They were tracked by IS supporters.

Russian-speaking militants in Syria began spreading their propaganda as early as late 2012. Between 2,000 and 4,000 fighters arrived in Syria from Tajikistan, according to the Meduza website. Moreover, many of them were recruited in Moscow, where they were in the position of labor migrants. The forerunner of the Caliphate voice on the Internet was a site founded by a group of Chechen militants in Syria led by Georgian-born Omar al-Shishani. This field commander went under the banner of ISIS and handed over his website to him.

The main goal of ISIS is to build bridges between militants in Syria and Iraq and those residents North Caucasus who listens to them or sympathizes. Fanatics are portrayed in such materials as noble men who are ready to give their lives for the faith. However, the Russian-speaking Mujahideen, who have already arrived in the warring region, cannot be left without instructions. These people do not speak Arabic. Especially for them, work has been set up to translate the sermons of ISIS leaders from Arabic into Russian.

Moscow is trying to counteract the recruitment of extremists both with the help of ideological levers and special services. So far, it is difficult to assess the results of this work.

Meanwhile, Washington intends to expand the front of the fight against ISIS beyond Syria and Iraq. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the United States wants to obtain permission from the states of North Africa to establish a base from which drones can be launched. These devices will have to hit the adherents of the "Caliphate" in Libya.

In a conversation with NG, an expert on the Middle East and North Africa Irina Mokhova noted: “After the terrorist attacks in Tunisian Sousse, it became obvious that the North African countries are not able to cope with the growing terrorist threat on their own. It must be assumed that the most implacable opponents of the foreign military presence will criticize the decision to deploy an American drone base. However, the continued threat of new attacks will force public opinion North African countries to accept the idea of the need for such a base and the American military aid generally. Especially if US assistance actually helps to reduce the level of terrorist threat in the region.”

In this regard, in order to promote the idea of the expediency of deploying a base, it would be useful to conduct a demonstrative special operation, as a result of which American drones would destroy any Libyan bases of the ISIS, its militants or infrastructure.

On the other hand, the use of drones is not always a 100% guaranteed operation. Killings by American drones during anti-terrorist special operations of civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan have seriously discredited the regimes in Islamabad and Kabul. The ruling regimes of the North African countries cannot ignore this risk. On the other hand, except for American help, they have no one to rely on.

“ISIS is on the rise in both North Africa and the Middle East. Ideally, in order to combat this terrorist quasi-state that is taking root before our eyes, it is necessary to seek and block the sources of its financing, to prevent the emergence of a system of loyalty on the part of the population that finds itself in controlled territories, and to use an adequate media strategy to reduce the attractiveness of the idea of jihad. However, unfortunately, no one can do it. And no matter how effective drones are, they will not be able to seriously improve the situation,” the expert concluded.