“The Islamic State recognized the power of digital media early on, when its brutish progenitor, Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, discovered the utility of uploading grainy videos of his atrocities to the Internet. As the group evolved, its propagandists surpassed and humiliated their bitter rivals in al Qaeda by placing a premium on innovation. The Islamic State maximized its reach by exploiting a variety of platforms: social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook, peer-to-peer messaging apps like Telegram and Surespot, and content sharing systems like JustPaste.it. More important, it decentralized its media operations, keeping its feeds flush with content made by autonomous production units from West Africa to the Caucasus—a geographical range that illustrates why it is no longer accurate to refer to the group merely as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a moniker that undersells its current breadth.”
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.