The Advancement Of The Internet

“Social media platforms held the promise of being more egalitarian and democratic than mass media in a sense that all users could equally participate and contribute content” (Dijck & Poell, 6). This explains a basic purpose of social media that remains consistent with the democratic values of freedom that the U.S. is founded upon by providing citizens with a platform where they are free to speak their mind. What makes this even more interesting is the ability for people to share their opinions on a stage that has relatively no geographical boundaries. Rather than restricting the spread of individuals’ beliefs, social networking sites help spread messages and information to anyone, faster than was previously possible. According to Dijck and Poell, “social media platforms seldom deal with ‘natural’ geographically or demographically delineated audiences; instead, they expedite connections between individuals, partly allowing the formation of strategic alliances or communities through users’ initiative” (Dijck & Poell, 8). Social networking sites are naturally designed to increase connectivity and interactions among individuals with common interests or beliefs. The idea of connectivity has significantly influenced the way in which protests are held in America and around the world.

Social media databases, which include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are attractive to users because they allow them to have complete control over who they communicate and interact with. According to The Pew Research Center Online, 79% of American adults between the ages twenty-three to sixty-five said they used the internet and nearly half of adults (47%), or 59% of internet users, say they use at least one Social Media site to network. On the other hand, The Pew Research Center Online also claims that 16% of social media users are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. Like the older adults, the young adults and children are exposed to the luxuries of social media, but they are also introduced to the sophistical media as well. For example, Social Media sites have become a headquarter for people to spread their own malicious beliefs: the jihadists terrorists group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has become an adept user of social media. In June of 2014, the group began an attack on the Iraqi city Mosul while also launching a “hashtag campaign” (Brooking and Singer), #AllEyesOnISIS. The hashtag surged across Twitter and created a global frenzy. Since then, ISIS has grown because of social media while recruiting through networking sites and self advertisement. ISIS’s most notable self promotion was the surfacing of a video that showed several ISIS followers beheading an

Today, people seem blinded by their outsized enthusiasm for social media. According to them, a few clicks can change the whole world and accomplish wonders such as curing cancer. Good intentions become sufficient on their own, as if there were no need for medicine and scientific researches anymore. Well, this is pure nonsense. Facebook’s likes cannot save African children from starvation, the same way Twitter’s 140 characters will not put an end to acts of terrorism. This notion is not even remotely debatable. For instance, the project Kony2012 had a perfect starting point; inspiring video, moving story and most importantly worldwide spread. Unfortunately, the terrorist is still at liberty, and the lack of thorough investigations is to blame. Instead of focusing on the real problems of war and kidnapping of children, the so-called activist related to the obvious and spent all of his money and energy on his movie. Ultimately, due to the predominance of weak-ties, the project was not successful. More importantly, certain tools of social networks, especially “likes” and “retweets”, encourage people to feel good about themselves, when actually they should incite them to put their efforts and means in the cause they supposedly defend. As Gladwell wrote, “[current] activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that

Domestic terrorist groups are violent extremists that want to attack the U.S. from the inside. Their intent is to frighten, pressure, and/or influence national principles. Today’s terrorist organizations are using cyberspace to spread their message. Training and online recruitment are also being made available by the Internet and social media websites. Some of the acts are lone-wolf attacks and others are collective attacks. Some examples of domestic terrorist groups that use cyberspace are Army of God, Sovereign Citizens, and Phineas Priesthood. The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report on terrorism, stating that more people have been killed in America by non-Islamic domestic terrorists than jihadists (Henderson, 2015). Terrorist

Besides friends using social media to connect with other friends or families keeping in touch with other relatives who are at a distance, in the recent years, terrorists have taken advantage of social media and used it as a platform to threaten and send jaw dropping messages to some of the most popular outlets across the nation. For this paper, I will examine how terrorists have used social media as propaganda. I will also analyze the trends in media and terrorism, and how it has provided access for the promotion of the violent messages as well as allowing the news of terrorist attacks and assassinations to reach many parts of the world within a matter of minutes.

Tactics to induce terror in pursuit of a political goal have been utilized by a multitude of organizations across the globe. This method of power control is known as terrorism, and due to its impact and unpredictability, it is highly feared and monitored today in the 21st century. Attacks of this nature stem from radical beliefs of religion, ethics, or other politics, and have been carried out globally, ranging from the 9/11 attack in New York City to the 2015 shooting in Paris, France. Terrorism over recent years has grown despite an abundance of efforts by many nations and international organisations to stop development of such groups. This growth is partially attributed to advances in digital technology and the furtherment of communication techniques, such as social media and web-based content, which has allowed for the spread of these radical ideas across the planet making it difficult to control the advancement of these beliefs (Council on Foreign Relations, 2009). Terrorism will never be able to be fully stopped due to the abstract nature and ideology from which terrorism originates.

The way terrorist groups has been communicating and recruiting new has been changing, due to the emerging use

Terrorists are actively targeting American youth through social media to solicit empathy and recruits. The Counter-terrorism proposal targets those same young Americans. The proposed campaign recommends the use of black propaganda in the social media sphere to make terrorist organizations seem distasteful, unappealing and boring.

Atwan and others who trenchantly talked about the position of the internet in al-Qaeda 's progression collects evidence of vast amounts of jihadist online activity to craft their case. Chat rooms, emails and Web sites all bristle with jihadist discussion, dissemination, and debate, providing resources vital to individuals studying al-Qaeda. However, the real centrality of such virtual movement to al-Qaeda and its acts of terrorism remains a relatively unexplored theory in these intellectual accounts of the internets

Developing and utilizing these means will allow the US to prevent threats from exploiting weaknesses in our own systems along with giving us the ability to investigate and exploit our enemy's communications and financial activities. We also need to wage our own information war against these groups. One of ISIS main recruiting techniques is to convince people that theirs is the only true form of Islam and that the west is at war with Islam. The US and its allies must use information networks such as the media and social networks in order to combat these recruiting

The internet is serving as virtual meeting for billions of users. The intelligence-gathering is leveraging the internet using hard data for online links. The social networking sites are the main complementary link to any information. The social networking sites provide the most important information for communication with anyone and joining different groups. It can identify terror-threats and incipient plots. The internet can provide quantum and quality of information by any member of the group. The internet penetration of

Although problems with the inappropriate use of social networks are not new, in recent years, it has been observed by many authorities how the internet allows any actor to perform information operations with amazing ease and effectiveness. Indeed, several countries and individuals are using online multichannel platforms and social networks like Instagram, Snapchat Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, the mentioned sites allows any actor to collect an enormous amount of information on their potential adversaries and influence public opinion through propaganda and counter-propaganda activities. The armed forces of several countries, including the United States want to take action on the issue, this has caused a domino effect that not only touches us

Other studies suggest that lone-wolf terrorism is a reactive approach to external pressure from counter-terrorism endeavors. Over the past 20 years, law enforcement and intelligence agencies have developed intricate methods of infiltrating terrorist organizations resulting in groups to aggressively evolve, pleading those who share a similar ideology to act on their behalf without direct support or guidance. The Federal Burau of Investigation (FBI) conclude that lone-wolf terrorists are utilized by larger terrorist organizations to overwhelm and confuse intelligence agencies and law enforcement. This perspective, however, is contingent upon communications technology being an enabling factor. While the internet has made it easier to access

These groups utilize the media platforms to preach the jihadi movement, as well as releasing propaganda and weapons tutorials. Both of these groups have English magazines; the Al Qaeda’s English-language magazine, known as “Inspire,” and ISIS’s English-language magazine, called “Dabiq.” Many terrorist organizations are posting eulogies of martyred jihadist. With the hopes of encouraging other radical Muslims and using them as role models for Muslims around the world. With the growing use of social media, the terrorist has good reasons to take advantage of it. The terrorist’s channels are popular with its intended audience; this allows the organizations to be mainstream. Social media channels are user-friendly, dependable, free, and can be used anywhere in the world if you have data or are connected to the internet. Social networking allows terrorist to reach out to their intended targets no matter where they are located. Compared to the traditional way in which visitors had to come to the

Homegrown violent extremists are defined as individuals who are radicalized and receive the inspiration to commit terrorist acts in the country they live in, from foreign terrorist organizations (New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, 2017). These individual's actions are independent of the foreign terrorist organization that inspired them. Although they receive inspiration from these foreign terrorist organizations the individual's personal grievances can influence what they do, and how and who they target (New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, 2017). Foreign terrorist organizations can influence people like this through the use of the internet as