SUMMARY OF SECURITY ANALYSIS OF ISIS (JIHADI) FB PAGES AS OF 30.08.14. My initial impression after having studied ca. 70 ISIS Facebook pages (along with ca. 30 belonging to other Jihadi groups) is as follows: 1. The people who are constructing and maintaining the pages are professionals - not just in graphics and journalism but also in IT matters. Most are written in Arabic. They are good! 2. There are probably at least 500 ISIS pages existing now with new ones coming online every day. Facebook deletes many of them, so they have to be replaced by ISIS quickly in order to maintain service to their target audiences. The coordination of getting members of a page group, that has been deleted, appears to fall on group pages that serve the same audience. 3. When trolled, ISIS (et al.) reacts differently. Sometimes they delete their own pages before FB does. Sometimes they ignore the trollers. Sometimes they attempt to contact the trollers, or friend them on FB. That has happened to me now several times. In any case, they are keenly aware that their every move online is being monitored. 4. The display of severed heads and damaged bodies seems to be a consistent theme on many sites. They seem to have a fascination with death and bodily dismemberment in general. On the other hand, many of their sites show small Arab children in a positive light - a hallmark of dictatorships in general. 5. Their pages serve a unique purpose. Some are for units of ISIS, while others are geographical or for instruction of one kind or another. ISIS operates both as a church, government and army - and its FB pages reflect those different functions. 6. In terms of identity symbols - images of their leader Al Bahgdadi, their quasi circle-like ISIS like symbol in different forms on different backgrounds, displays of AK-47s with regional flags, horses ridden by ISIS fighters, mosque architectures and graphic images of dismembered bodies are regular themes. MY CONCLUSIONS: Only a coordinated, systematic reporting of ISIS pages to FB can slow the growth of new ISIS FB pages, especially the ones containing graphic violence or threats towards Western targets. FB appears to be content to allow many of the Jihadi pages to exist, and I doubt that FB can read the languages they are composed in, and neither can most Western readers either. Therefore, it is difficult for us to discern the threats written in Arabic, for exaample, and report them to FB. Just as it is difficult for FB to confirm the report. This is where government authorities would be, I hope, assisting FB. Therefore, I suggest that it is better to report every Jihadi page and then let FB decide if it contains dangerous material to react to as they and the authorities see fit. On the other hand, if FB will not delete many of these Jihadi pages when reported, nothing speaks against the FB public from trolling them when possible.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 18:11:46 +0000
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