Despite its military defeat in 2019, the Islamic State group is adapting its communications strategy to maintain its influence. The terrorist group skillfully exploits digital platforms to disseminate its propaganda and recruit new followers, posing new security challenges.
The Islamic State group (or Daesh), although territorially weakened since 2019, remains a serious threat. He transformed his military defeat into a sprawling digital presence, demonstrating a disturbing mastery of modern communications channels.
The attack in New Orleans, which occurred on New Year’s Day, illustrates the persistence of this threat. A radicalized man carried out a deadly attack, killing 15 people. The FBI confirmed that the attacker was “100% inspired by the Daesh group”, highlighting the group’s ability to motivate “lone wolves”.
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Resilient propaganda
Myriam Benraad, political scientist, author of “Is the Islamic State defeated?” (CNRS Editions), explains this resilience: “The group has not fundamentally changed its discourse, but has had to adapt to a more restrictive Internet”, she analyzed Monday in the program Tout un monde de la RTS. This adaptation results in a return to the sources, with a predominance of propaganda in the Arabic language.
The “Al-Naba” newsletter, published every Thursday since 2014, has become one of the organization’s main channels of communication in Arabic. “We see a lot more propaganda in Arabic today than ten years ago. It’s a return to the group’s original Arab identity,” explains Myriam Benraad.
An expanded recruitment strategy
Paradoxically, the Islamic State group is also diversifying its targets. “They have expanded their translation arsenal, particularly into Central Asian languages and Russian,” explains Aaron Zelin, a researcher at the Washington Institute. This approach has made it possible to recruit from countries such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Faced with restrictions on traditional social networks, the group has also turned to encrypted applications like Telegram. However, for the two experts interviewed in “Everyone”, Mark Zuckerberg’s recent decision to end fact-checking on Facebookin the United States, could facilitate the dissemination of extremist content.
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It would not be surprising to see jihadist propaganda and recruitment reappear on mainstream platforms in the years to come
Artificial intelligence at the service of propaganda
Daesh has also acquired expertise in artificial intelligence. The group now produces fake television news, using presenters generated by artificial intelligence, as observed after the attack at a Moscow concert hall. Content that easily escapes the moderation of social platforms.
This technological development worries the two experts. The Islamic State group’s capacity to disseminate propaganda could multiply, posing new challenges for authorities and digital platforms.
Miruna Coca-Cozma
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