ISIS supporters spread terrorist ideology on Instagram

(Baonghean.vn) - Researchers believe that supporters of the Islamic State (IS) have discovered an application that only displays content for a certain period of time, with the aim of spreading terrorist ideology, using the "stories" feature on the Instagram application, which will only keep posts for 24 hours.

Instagram is now becoming the preferred platform for IS. Photo: AP

With the group’s continued defeat on the ground in Iraq and Syria, many of its recruiters killed or forced to flee, and their Twitter and Facebook accounts shut down, the jihadist group’s propaganda has shifted to the use of makeshift apps. But a recent analysis suggests that the networks it has inspired remain strong elsewhere.

Specifically, an analysis by software research group Andrea Stroppa identified more than 50,000 accounts linked to IS supporters who posted stories on Instagram. Of these, more than 10,000 were considered to have strong IS links, as they followed the terrorist group's main accounts and were followed by these accounts, and about 30% of the content they posted was about the group.

Terrorist organization IS. Photo: AP

“They’re sending messages that they know will disappear, but they know who the author is,” Stroppa said. “They’re using Instagram stories because they know it’s a safe channel to share information.”

Instagram is owned by Facebook, which has been under pressure to shut down accounts linked to IS supporters after governments said the social network was being used as a tool for spreading and recruiting terrorists./.

Lan Ha

(According to AP)