During the first ten days of 2021, the Islamic State / IS has managed to use Twitter.com efficiently. On a daily basis, through the Twitter.com platform, the Islamic State has been showing and directing the public to its media platforms and that of its trusted supporters.

Twitter.com has been trying to stop the Islamic State and / or its supporters from posting to no avail. Tens of accounts are being erased daily. But, the Islamic State and / or its supporters has more accounts to use. They boast to have thousands of stolen / purchases / hacked accounts. The volume and the appearance of many -always- evolving methods followed by the Islamic State and / or its supporters are just too much to handle for Twitter.com.

During the first ten days of 2021, the Islamic State has waged attacks in many parts of the world, released a video from its branch in Sinai / ولاية سيناء / مصر / Egypt, and of course released the new issue of its newspaper al-Naba’, to name few of its activities. The news and links related all of which are to be found and was / is advertised for on Twitter.com.

It is important here to note that it is not only Twitter.com but many Surface Internet providers are used daily to disseminate the media of the Islamic State.

Another important point to take into consideration as well is the tendency of the Islamic State to spike its aggressive promotion when it produces something they deem special. For example, when the Islamic State released Nazeef al-Hamalat / نزيف الحملات on the 7th or the 8th of January / 2021, Twitter.com, was flooded by Tweets related to this video. Some of these Tweets are by the Islamic State and / or its supporters, while many others are by an array of different parties. Google.com was also swarmed by links to the video release by the Islamic State.

It took the two platforms (Google.com and Twitter.com) at least two days to suppress that key word. In the process attention was brought and caused the closure of few major pro Islamic State sites. Normally, the attention and aggressive promotion puts in the open the address of many sites. That is why someone takes them down at that point.

Of course, the pro Islamic State surface websites that gets shut down are going to reappear very soon after doing the usual procedures.

(A screen shot from Twitter.com in which the latest issue of al-Naba’ is advertised)

Here are some notes on the activities of the Islamic State and / or its supporters during the first ten days of 2021 on Twitter.com and to a lesser extent its activity on other platforms:

1- The Islamic State released a video from its branch in Sinai / Egypt titled Nazeef al-Hamalat / The Hemorrhage of Campaigns / نزيف الحملات in which they document their recent action in Sinai / Egypt, as well as tell the world what is their latest message.

(Screenshot of the time stamp at the end of Nazeef al Hamalat / نزيف الحملات )

2- The Islamic State let the world know about its latest Isdar / release through many Surface Web open platforms like Google.com, Facebook.com and Youtube.com. It was not only Twitter.com that was used by the Islamic State, but many large platforms.

(Screen shot from Youtube.com January / 9/ 2021 )

(A screenshot from Facebook.com on January 9th/ 2021)

3- Many Twitter.com accounts with connection to what goes on in Syria / Iraq / Jihad / Islam/ Middle East started talking about the latest video release by the Islamic State. Some like @CalibreObscura who started a thread giving a play by play description and what type of weapons do appear in the video.

Calibre Obscura wrote about the new home made weapon that appeared in the video extensively as well.

.

4- The Islamic State, of course, made sure to post its latest news on the Twitter feeds of many news outlets. They did the same and posted at experts on Islamic Jihadi movements. Some Tweets stayed for long hours and of course some may still be there days later. The Islamic State and / or its supporters posted aggressively on Tweets by al-Jazeera, @AlArabiya and @Orient to name few.

5- The aggressive promotion paid and more than three thousands saw the video release within few hours on one popular pro Islamic State Surface net website. Comments started piling up as well praising the release, the Islamic State and directing willing viewers to more similar content.

6- On the 11th of January 2021, Tweets by the Islamic State and / or its supporters were still the top Tweet appearing when one searches using the key word : ” Islamic State / الدوله الاسلاميه in ‘Arabic. Note that it had stayed for hours generating thousands of views plus directing traffic.

To Be Continued