Extremist group ISIS relies on Twitter to recruit; supporters have 46,000 Twitter accounts
Extremist group ISIS is known to be active on social networks, most notably Twitter and YouTube.
A study released by the Brookings Institute think-tank notes that Isis supporters are believed to have operated at least 46,000 Twitter accounts between September and December 2014.
That's right: 46,000 accounts.
The study's authors J.M. Berger and Jonathan Morgan said:
"(Isis has) exploited social media, most notoriously Twitter, to send its propaganda and messaging out to the world and to draw in people vulnerable to radicalization."
They also said that the group is "using social media to attract new recruits and inspire lone actor attacks".
These Twitter accounts originated in countries like Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and even the United States.
While the majority of the accounts used Arabic as the primary language, about one in five used English as their primary language. One in 20 selected French as their main language.
These ISIS-supporting accounts average an impressive 1,000 followers each. These accounts also sent more than 50 messages a day.
One of the more prominent Twitter accounts, Umm Layth, belonged to 20-year-old Glaswegian Asqa Mahmood.
Her account has since been suspended but she was responsible for messaging and recruiting three British girls.
Twitter screengrab/ BBC News
Even after thousands of accounts were suspended by Twitter since October 2014, thousands of new accounts were created to replace the suspended accounts.
However, as more accounts were suspended, fewer new accounts were created in subsequent months.
Source: CNet
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