Ministry of Innovation / Business of Technology

ISIS co-opts Twitter hashtags to spread threats, propaganda

Jihadi activists employ a ruthless and deft social media strategy.

ISIS members and supporters find a new audience for their message by pushing their messages across unrelated hashtags on Twitter.

The militant group ISIS began a new campaign Sunday morning that hijacked popular and innocuous hashtags to spread its threats to execute American journalist Steven Sotloff. Campaigners organized on a forum and began posting to Twitter combining the hashtag #StevensHeadInObamasHand with other trending tags to gain visibility.

The campaign follows the execution of another American journalist, James Foley, which was documented in a video that circulated on social media. Twitter controversially scrubbed the video and screenshots of it from the service for its graphic imagery. ISIS is now threatening Sotloff's life in an effort to get a response from the US government.

One of the hashtags co-opted for the campaign was #AskRicky, which was intended to collect questions for YouTube star Ricky Dillon, reported Vocativ. The campaign's tweets included language like "11th September to happen, Don't come to Iraq unless you want another," "American Air Force kills innocent people in Iraq," and "As you kill us, we are killing you."

The campaign is part of a now years-long social media battle between militant factions and more official bodies in the US, including the Department of State. Members of ISIS have been noted for their deft use of social networks for propaganda, while US channels have struggled to either respond adequately or produce a coherent message, instead opting for confusing and tone-deaf salvos like the spoof Al Qaeda propaganda video.

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