There was a time when #ISIS supporters were obvious on Twitter, Facebook and even actual gatherings. Those days are over, so what do they do now?
This article is going to highlight how Salafi Jihadists push their propaganda on to the masses. It will document the methods, messages and objectives, with examples of each.
I’m a Journalist!
The objective of the ISIS and extremist sympathisers is to get their message and ideas out to the masses. They can not obviously be direct, as they would simply be banned and arrested. So they claim to be reporters, but instead of reporting the news as it is, they give their narrative.
Introducing just a handful of Twitter accounts that are pushing propaganda and encouraging Terrorism. Its obviously not possible to expose all the social media accounts that are promoting Terrorism, and that is not the purpose of this article. What we are doing however is exposing how they do it, and what they are saying.
We have already exposed DOAM, we invited them to comment, as can be read on this article, however they refused and simply blocked us on Twitter, and continued their propaganda.
Some of these accounts are more subtle than overs, for example @worldonalert is quite blatantly pro ISIS. However they never actually come out and say it, you can only realise after examining a portion of their comments. So how do we know? Lets read on.
Don’t mention the I word!
The first thing they do is never criticise ISIS. They will have pages of Tweets about the slightest faults of the Syrian Army, or Iraqi forces, or Western governments, but nothing, not a single comment on the ISIS atrocities. This is how they avoid getting banned, but at the same time, push their message to the masses.
On the Ground News, OGN, their Twitter handle is @OGnNews, I searched from today 18/02/17 back as far as I could, September 2016. Despite ISIS being one of the main players in the Syrian conflict, OGN did not mention any of their atrocities. In fact they only mentioned them once, in a small tweet on October 10th, even then it was not a criticism.
DOAM – Documenting Oppression Against Muslims, are a classic example of this, they will raise every single minor injustice caused by anyone, but never do they put ISIS in a negative light. For a full exposure on DOAM, click here.
Redefine the Players
The other recent development is to change the perception of the combatants. They want any resistance to ISIS to be labelled as “shia” or “Iran”, as these already have negative connotations in the Muslim masses. So by labelling the enemies of ISIS as the ones already viewed with suspicion, it improves ISIS standing in the minds of the masses.
Being Anti-Shia is a hall mark of Salafi Jihadism, its a common trait among this group who never criticise ISIS. They will make massive claims that there is some kind of massacre being committed by shia forces against innocent Sunnis. This is part of the ISIS propaganda, they themselves do the exact same thing in their “Dabiq” magazines.
ISIS Magazine Dabiq shares same views as DOAM
DOAM are openly sectarian and their anti shia propaganda is tightly inline with ISIS ideology. Their reports are often without sources or credibility, but for the already receptive masses, its just a technicality they can forgive.
Tallha is the generic sectarian propaganda pusher. Again he never criticises ISIS or similar groups and picks up on every opportunity to put the blame of things on the Shia or the West, all inline with the official ISIS policies.
The Results?
The strategies that are outlined above allows ISIS sympathisers to reach the masses and some are convinced by what they hear, the result? They start to repeat and come on board.
Im not saying that every anti-shia person is an ISIS supporter, but what these policies do show is that its not a big step to go from anti-shia to someone who wants shia to be killed and supports ISIS doing just that.
