IN NOVEMBER 2015, an ISIS operative shot and killed two US military contractors in Amman, Jordan. Last week, their families filed .
They are blaming the social network for the attack. 鈥淔or years, Twitter knowingly and recklessly provided ISIS with accounts on its social network,鈥� they claim in their complaint. 鈥淭hrough this provision of material support, Twitter enabled ISIS to acquire the resources needed to carry out numerous terrorist attacks.鈥�
Twitter and Facebook have become theatres of war. In a report , the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence outlined how social networks allow states and militant groups to 鈥渂lur the distinction between peace-time and war-time activities鈥�. Thanks to social networks, they now have new ways to share propaganda, recruit people to their cause and steal information.
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Some of this activity is carried out by people with fake identities, some by bots that make spam posts. For example, they can flood popular hashtags with messages promoting a particular cause or ridiculing opponents.
The report also documents incidents of 鈥渃atfishing鈥�: the use of fake profiles of attractive women to befriend people. The Taliban has reportedly used this trick to tease information out of Australian soldiers on Facebook. But it is ISIS that exemplifies this modern approach to extremism, relying heavily on social media to spread its message and recruit supporters around the world.
Gregory Asmolov at the London School of Economics thinks social media stirs things up because it brings violence and war home to people, no matter where they are. 鈥淵ou go online and you find yourself in a conflict-laden environment.鈥�
鈥淭witter has suspended 360,000 accounts for promoting terrorism, but is it failing to do enough?鈥�
Social networks also blend personal updates and world news, making international disputes feel intimate and urgent. It can polarise societies and increase instability by destroying ties between friends and families on different sides of a conflict. This happened in the run-up to Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine in 2014, for example.
The families trying to sue Twitter may not be successful, but their attempt raises an important question. Who, if anyone, is responsible for policing the internet鈥檚 front lines?
Social networks have their work cut out if they wish to weed out extremists. In August, Twitter announced it had suspended 360,000 accounts over the last year for promoting terrorism.
But last month, the UK parliament鈥檚 Home Affairs Committee argued that . 鈥淭hese companies are hiding behind their supranational legal status to pass the parcel of responsibiltiy and refusing to act responsibly in case they damage their brands,鈥� it argued in a report.
It鈥檚 not a problem for tech companies alone to solve. NATO recommends that nations establish 鈥渁 heightened social media presence鈥�, with academics, journalists and politicians encouraged to speak out online to refute misinformation.
Giselle Lopez at the PeaceTech Lab in Washington DC also thinks this is the best approach. 鈥淭he focus should be much more on positive messaging,鈥� she says, citing , an online magazine founded by Muslim leaders in the UK to counter the ISIS message. In a war of words, every voice counts.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淓xtremists wage war with retweets and likes鈥�
