Islamic State has a highly advanced social media strategy for spreading propaganda and rallying supporters.
According to new research by the Brookings Institute, ‘The ISIS Twitter Census’ these are the top 10 countries that sympathisers of Islamic State (aka ISIS or ISIL) claim they are in when expressing their support for the murderous organisation.
Notably the countries represented, apart from Iraq and Syria where the group has claimed its self proclaimed caliphate, are either directly bordering the caliphate or heavily involved in military operations against it.
- Saudi Arabia 866
- Syria 507
- Iraq 453
- United States 404
- Egypt 326
- Kuwait 300
- Turkey 203
- Palestinian Territory 162
- Lebanon 141
- United Kingdom 139
*Figures taken from a sample size of 20,000
According to the research authors: “the paper was motivated in part by a desire to better understand the impact of Twitter’s suspension of ISIS supporter accounts on the performance and coherence of the overall network. An improved understanding would further inform the public debate over the value of suspensions.”
Despite attempts by Twitter to ban ISIS from Twitter, it is nonetheless still utilised by the group’s network of supporters and agents.
