The State of Global Jihad Online: A Qualitative, Quantitative, and Cross-Lingual Analysis

It is only a matter of time before terrorists begin routinely using Twitter, Instagram, and other services in ongoing operations. We have already seen this in a limited manner from al-Shabaab, which tweets its #JihadDispatches on recent battles. But those delivery mechanisms are unlikely to replace the forums as the main environment for conversation and information distribution among jihadis. Twitter and the like provide a more public platform than a password-protected forum, but one critical utility of forums for jihadis is the ability to have relatively private conversations.

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Tags: Forums, Instagram, Qualitative, Quantitative, Social Media, Twitter (X), Violent Jihadism