Social media does several things. First, it obviously allows audiences to be reached and targeted, and I think my colleagues have said that well. It’s therefore possible to go into virtual spaces where we know, for example, that young people will be playing online war games, etc. That’s one example.
It’s known that they can be reached. Through Internet messaging functions, it’s possible to contact these young people, quietly ask them questions about their life experiences and their political views. Indeed, that’s where the most vulnerable individuals are identified and gradually radicalized.
We’ve seen it a lot from the Islamic State. I would say that it really invented a kind of banner that, even on digital social networks, made it possible to pledge allegiance to that group and to commit, without ever having been solicited to do so, a knife attack, a vehicle ramming, etc.
Again, social media is, among other things, one thing in the tool box of terrorist organizations. Many people go on social media and, fortunately, do not become radicalized. I wouldn’t want anyone to think otherwise. On the other hand, we see that, among young people who are being radicalized, there is indeed a very high consumption of digital social networks. There’s no doubt about it, and it’s a consensus among researchers working on issues of violent radicalization.
So it’s this ability that social media have to reach people. Obviously, there are also all the encrypted platforms that allow for the exchange of information. In addition, there are also all the sources of funding today using cryptocurrency, which make it possible to fund terrorist organizations or groups.
So it’s an extremely useful and powerful tool for terrorist organizations.