IS makes messaging platform a centerpiece of social media strategy

BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) — The Islamic State militant group (IS) is fighting on every battlefield against those trying to defeat it, both on the ground and on social media.

Its use of social media has drawn world attention after it said “a security unit of Islamic State fighters carried out the London attacks,” on the messaging app Telegram.

Like many other terrorist groups, the IS is enthusiastic about using social media to make propaganda for its successes and recruit new jihadists.

However, IS activities took a vital turn in September 2015 when its official media outlets took to Telegram, an encrypted messaging service and platform for hosting information-sharing channels.

The IS moved to Telegram after a long-range conflict with Twitter, which regularly suspended IS accounts, and some attempts on less popular platforms from which it was also removed.

Its move to Telegram did not go unnoticed and the IS went underground in August 2016 after its official accounts got repeatedly shut down.

But IS media operatives set up many separate channels which simply mirrored feeds of the official channel and simultaneously stream material produced by the IS’s central media operation, including its self-proclaimed news agency Amaq.

The mirror channels, named the Nashir News Agency, have been repeatedly shut down as well.

To cope with such a situation, their administrators use a stealthy approach by setting up a user or channel and allow it to build up a huge following before suddenly switching it to the easily recognizable IS mirror brand.

Some channels, whose promotion on popular social media platforms is prohibited, are designed to maintain a lower profile to avoid suspension.

This allows them to attract a multitude of followers but the channels are usually expelled before the total number of followers exceeds 1,000.

Such numbers suffice to get the IS’s message out for distribution by online supporters.

Telegram does not allow comprehensive searches of public content, which means that the number of pro-jihad users cannot be accurately gauged.