Social media war on Daesh should go global: UAE paper

ABU DHABI 27th January 2016 (WAM) -- A UAE newspaper has said that the country has made a good start with the Sawab Centre a joint initiative by the Governments of the United Arab Emirates and the United States in support of the Global Coalition against Daesh and that other countries should join the campaign.

In an editorial today Khaleej Times said "No war on terrorism is complete without a war on the ideology that drives terrorists and makes them do the despicable things they do. One reason why the fight against Daesh failed four years ago. But now the UAE has opened a new front on social media even as extremist groups seek lone wolves and to activate operatives across the world to complete the bloody task begun in Syria and Iraq."

"Renewed airstrikes on Daesh targets by the US and Russia followed by the counter-offensive by the Kurds and the Iraqi army have helped take back 30 percent of territory held by the group.

"But social media is an open space a wider expanse where anonymity often has dangerous dimensions which the group has exploited to attract sympathisers to its cause.

"Recruiters trawl the net for the unsuspecting vulnerable and the lost and play to their doubts - taking over mind space so to speak. Paris San Bernardino the Russian jet bombing and the attacks in Turkey and Indonesia are an extension of the ground war in the heart of the Middle East.

"But the counter-narrative from the UAE is backed by the right institutional framework. The government has roped in scholars and other leaders to target this ideology of hate. Named Sawab (on the right path) the initiative is backed by the United States but what is required is a global social media campaign involving other countries and intelligence agencies for effective surveillance and targeted messaging against extremist thought.

Taking back online space from extremists is a tough task as tech savvy groups like Daesh slip into the shadows and traverse multiple media channels in different avatars.

Dozens of Daesh accounts appear on Twitter every day according to Veryan Khan a leading expert who closely monitors the Twitter activity of the group. The Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium TRAC the US-based agency she works for says there are 6000 Daesh 'confirmed' accounts in 13 languages. Khan also studies the group's recruitment patterns. There are over 300000 Daesh random accounts on social media which send out thousands of messages to wannabe terrorists in remote corners of the world. ''The real question is how many of those 300K accounts (not our 6000 because we manually check) are real people? Daesh uses a lot of "bots" [web robot or simply bot a software application that runs automated tasks over the Internet] to auto-puff up their presence online'' she says.

The UAE and the US know that if they are to push back terror elements across the world and in Syria and Iraq this new front on the Net must take on Daesh's ideology of hate. Sawab (sawabcenter on Twitter) is asking people to report suspicious Daesh content.

Disenchanted folk are being lured to the cause of extremists groups who promise them a cure for all ills as they slay brutalise and rape people in the name of religion. Members of Daesh trawl the web connect with potential recruits and mentor them. Once indoctrinated they are set on the path of violence. Some make the journey to join the militants in the badlands of Syria and Iraq while others stay in their home countries and wait for an opportunity to strike.

Khan says that Sawab is a good start. But officially branded national government campaigns can prove tricky because they are usually met with suspicion and scepticism from those they are meant to target.

"Even if its possible to entirely censor Daesh's message on social media the pendulum would not shift away from the global messages already in circulation."

One critical miscalculation made by most governments is to look for one single catch-all counter-narrative to battle Daesh's narratives which run into hundreds. ''No one message can be created to alleviate this cancer to society at large no one agency can manage this effort no one country can combat it on their own no single individual can persuade'' says the online counter-terror expert.

There is also a virtual ''collective Daesh fan club'' that not only offers an "undergird'' for the propaganda machine but also holds an imaginary world of acceptance love and community for potential recruits''. If you ignore or underestimate this virtual community Daesh followers you are making a big mistake says Khan.

With Twitter being under close watch for suspicious Daesh activity the group has moved to Telegram to spread their message and contact potential recruits. Telegram is used more by not only Daesh supporters but militants in the field. The group uses Telegram first to post images and videos according to TRAC.

There are just too many features Telegram offers that are critical to getting messages across - like being able to download a file of any size without needing an external URL. Encryption and secret chats that auto-destruct after reading make Telegram attractive to Daesh.

"While the UAE's Sawab is a good start it's important that other countries join this counter-narrative against terror on all social networks (not just Twitter) to nullify Daesh's efforts. The online battle has only begun" concluded the Dubai-based daily.