Virtually Islamic Blog

Gary R. Bunt

OBL HD

Businesswire, National Geographic Announces In-Depth Analysis of Osama Bin Laden’s Newly Declassified Personal Files in BIN LADEN'S HARD DRIVE
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Beyond Banglatown

A trip to Brick Lane via an important report and video Discover More…

Beyond Banglatown

A trip to Brick Lane via an important report and video Discover More…

“Islamist terrorism” and “jihadis”

Terminology concerns apply to academic discussion as well … Discover More…

'IS' on Facebook

Gordon Corera, BBC, ISIS 'still evading detection on Facebook', report says Discover More…

Husham al Hashimi

Independent, Husham al Hashimi: Renowned Iraqi scholar assassinated outside his home in Baghdad Discover More…

'IS'/COVID-19 Narratives

Chelsea Daymon, Meili Criezis, CTC Sentinel, Pandemic Narratives: Pro-Islamic State Media and the Coronavirus, June 2020, Vol. 13, Issue 6 [PDF] (one for the reading list - I haven't read it yet)

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Indonesian Cyber Islam

New and Noted: Moch. Syarif Hidayatullah, Mohammad Syairozi Dimyathi, Abdullah, Zubair, Rizqi Handayani. 'The Cyber Islam Contestation In Indonesia'. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology. Vol. 29, No. 7, (2020), pp. 34-44. Available as a PDF. I have yet to read this, but it looks interesting. Discover More…

'Missionaries of Jihad'

Aaron Zelin's book details are here Discover More…

Webinar

I will be providing a seminar for this webinar series in September. Check out the other speakers here: Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies (AVACGIS) at George Mason University, Covid-19 and Muslim Religiosity: an AVACGIS Webinar Series

avacgis_covid-webinar_logo-draft

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Manuscripts Online

Islamic manuscripts available to view here - some wonderful material: Discover More…

'Islamic State' 2020

Latest on ISIS Discover More…

The Online Public Sphere in the Gulf

Good to see this has been published: Review of Middle East Studies, 53(2) Special Focus: The Online Public Sphere in the Gulf
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'IS' Libya

Inga Kristina Trauthig, ICSR, islamic State in Libya: From Force to Farce? report
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New Book on Jihad

A new book from Thomas Hegghammer is out now, discussing global jihad: Discover More…

Research: France, Muslims & Net

L’espace public traditionnel à l’épreuve de la critique de musulmans Français. February 2020
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Islamophobia research

Metro, Muslims experience ‘shared suffering’ when other Muslims go through trauma


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KSA Bot Army

Marc Owen Jones, Middle East Eye, Saudi Arabia's bot army flourishes as Twitter fails to tame the beast Discover More…

Internet Censorship 2020

Paul Bischoff, Comparitech, Internet Censorship 2020: A Global Map of Internet Restrictions
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Salafi-Sufi online contestations

PhD research Discover More…

Extreme Digital Speech

Vox-Pol, New VOX-Pol Report: Extreme Digital Speech: Contexts, Responses and Solutions
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#Disinformation

Ruth Michaelson & Michael Safi, Guardian #Disinformation: the online threat to protest in the Middle East
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Arab Fashion Heritage Online

Gulf Today, Arab heritage through the prism of traditional fashion
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Religious Tolerance

Coconut, West Java, Jakarta least religiously tolerant provinces in Indonesia according to 12-year study
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Cyber Islamic Environments

Here's a piece in Geotimes by Ahmad Munawwir which takes a retrospective look at some of my earlier research (in Indonesian)

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Iran Cable Leak

Leaked Iran cables in focus here:
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Many Muslims listed by World-Check without evidence

Al Jazeera, Blacklist: Many Muslims listed by World-Check without evidence
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AICIS2019 Round-up

Conclusion of an interesting week in Jakarta at AICIS2019:

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_220 Discover More…

Hijab and Social Media

New and noted: R. Kauser, Exploring the self-presentation of female Muslims, who wear the hijab, on the social networking site 'Instagram.' (Manchester Metropolitan University, 2019) [PDF] Discover More…

Hajj 2019/1440

A collection of links and resources associated with Hajj 2019/1440 Discover More…

International Cyber Terrorism Regulation Project

David Fidler, Council on Foreign Relations, Terrorism, Social Media, and the El Paso Tragedy Discover More…

UN on 'IS'

Ben Makuch, Vice, ISIS Is Using Internet Propaganda to Maintain a 'Virtual Caliphate,' UN Report Says
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New book: 'Tweeted Heresies'

New and noted: Abdullah Hamidaddin, Tweeted Heresies Discover More…

Cytrec Conference

CYTREC TASM Conference presentations and papers archived Discover More…

Content Removal

Isabelle van der Vegt, Paul Gill, Stuart Macdonald and Bennett Kleinberg, Shedding Light on Terrorist and Extremist Content Removal, RUSI, 3 July 2019 Discover More…

MENA Survey

BBC News, The Arab world in seven charts: Are Arabs turning their backs on religion?

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Conference - AICIS 2019

AICIS 2019 - 19th International Conference on Islamic Studies Discover More…

Bangladesh Big Data

Richard Galpin, BBC News, Big data 'can stop malaria outbreaks before they start'
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Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World

New from UNC Press, Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World, Edited by Babak Rahimi, Peyman Eshaghi Discover More…

From Battlefront to Cyberspace

One for future reading:

Asaad Almohammad & Charlie Winter, From Battlefront to Cyberspace: Demystifying the Islamic State’s Propaganda Machine, CTI, June 2019


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New & Noted: America & Islam

New and noted: Lawrence Pintak, America & Islam
Soundbites, Suicide Bombs and the Road to Donald Trump (Bloomsbury) Discover More…

Questia: 'Hashtag Islam'

Hashtag Islam on Questia Discover More…

Hussein Kesvani Interview

i-D, how our online world is changing what it means to be a muslim in 2019
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Far-right 'Fake News'

FT, Homegrown ‘junk news’ on migrants and Islam surges, studies find
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Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Profile

BBC Monitoring, Syria group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and al-Qaeda legacy, 22 May 2019
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'IS' Research

James A. Piazza & Ahmet Guler, The Online Caliphate: Internet Usage and ISIS Support in the Arab World, Terrorism and Political Violence https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2019.1606801 for the reading list Discover More…

Muslim Millennials Online

Hussein Kesvani, Times Magazine, Inside the online world of Muslim millennials, 18 May 2019
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China Surveillance

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Pew Twitter report

Pew, Sizing Up Twitter Users
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'Cyber Sufis'

This week two important books about Islam and the Internet have appeared. Hussein Kesvani's book on UK Muslims and the net (previously blogged) and this new one from Robert Rozehnal on Sufis and the net. I was able to preview this, which is a really interesting read. It focuses on Inayat Sufism. Discover More…

UK Muslims in cyberspace

Hussein Kesvani, Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims (London: Hurst & Co)
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Net Counter-terrorism

Brian Fishman, Counterterrorism - Crossroads: Counter-terrorism and the Internet, Texas National Security Review, Vol 2, Issue 2 April 2019, Discover More…

'IS' Activity Profile

Mina al-Lami, BBC Monitoring, Where is the Islamic State group still active around the world?
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'IS' profile

AFP, Islamic State: pioneers of the 'digital caliphate'

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Religious Authority Online

Alexandre Caeiro, Daily Sabah, Cyber-muftis, digital fatwas - the ongoing transformation of religious authority Discover More…

Pakistan book

New book on Pakistan's Shi'a population: Discover More…

Hate Groups Online

Joan Donovan, Director of the Technology and Social Change Research Project, The Atlantic, How Hate Groups’ Secret Sound System Works Discover More…

'Cassette Tap Revolution'

New and noted article: Simon, Andrew. “CENSURING SOUNDS: TAPES, TASTE, AND THE CREATION OF EGYPTIAN CULTURE.” International Journal of Middle East Studies, n.d., 1–24. doi:10.1017/S0020743819000035. Discover More…

Online Manipulation

Clint Watts, FPRI, Five Generations of Online Manipulation: The Evolution of Advanced Persistent Manipulators Discover More…

New Muslim Public Digital Spheres

Bibliographical information for researchers on Islam and Muslims online: Discover More…

'The Dark Side of Social Media'

Neil Johnson, Physics World, The Dark Side of Social Media, 1 March 2019 Discover More…

Islamic State's caliphate online

LA Times, Islamic State's caliphate is all but finished, but its online presence endures [opinion] Discover More…

CyberOrient

CyberOrient Discover More…

'State of Hate' Report

Guardian, Third of Britons believe Islam threatens British way of life, says report Discover More…

Digitised Manuscripts

HindustanTimes, Jamia digitises rare, old books, manuscripts as part of conservation project
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Counter-Islamophobia Kit

The Conversation, How to tackle Islamophobia – the best strategies from around Europe. Article from Amina Easat-Daas,
Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies, University of Leeds

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'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan'

Aaron Zelin on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (via Twitter) Discover More…

Religion as Critique

Book Launch - Religion as Critique by Irfan Ahmad . Another book in the University of North Carolina Press Islamic Civilizations & Muslim Networks Series (of which I'm a part of), which has been published in India by OUP.

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'Communicating Religion' Conference

Forthcoming conference activity: Discover More…

Product Placement

Blackwell's have a page for 'Hashtag Islam'. Discover More…

'The Unlikely Connection Between Trump and Ayatollah Khomeini'

Philip Kowalski, Ozy.com, The Unlikely Connection Between Trump and Ayatollah Khomeini
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Social media and the 'Arab Uprising'

Washington Post, Eight years after Egypt’s revolution, here’s what we’ve learned about social media and protest
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Updated: Leadership, Authority and Representation in British Muslim Communities

Islam UK Centre, Cardiff. Leadership, Authority and Representation in British Muslim Communities Discover More…

'IS' Ideological Origins

Tore Hamming, CTC, The Hardline Stream of Global Jihad: Revisiting the Ideological Origin of the Islamic State
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Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

AFP/Rudaw, Al-Qaeda's shadow still hangs over Syria's Idlib: analysts
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Digital Piety in Bangladesh: A Psychosocial Analysis

Sayeed al-Zaman, Digital Piety in Bangladesh: A Psychosocial Analysis (ResearchGate)
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Populism, Extremism and New Media

International Conference on Populism, Extremism and New Media. January 11-12, 2019. University of Padua, Italy. Discover More…

New book: 'A Critique of the Abrogation Theory'

My former student, Jasser Auda, has a new book out: Jasser Auda & Adil Salahi, A Critique of the Abrogation Theory in Islam (Goodreads page)
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Pew Research findings

Pew Research Center, Eastern and Western Europeans Differ on Importance of Religion, Views of Minorities, and Key Social Issues
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Rouzan al-Najjar: NYT profile on IDF Medic Murder

NY Times, An Israeli Soldier Killed a Medic in Gaza. We Investigated the Fatal Shot.
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Extension for Arabic & Persian

Alpheios Reading Tools Version 2.1.0.19, December 2018
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Abu Ali al-Anbari

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, The Biography of Abu Ali al-Anbari: Full Translation and Analysis


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Gille Kepel's Analysis

Gavin Mortimer, Spectator, The link between the gilet jaunes and the Strasbourg attack, 13 Dec 2018
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Assessing Outcomes of Online Campaigns Countering Violent Extremism

Todd C. Helmus, Kurt Klein, Rand, Assessing Outcomes of Online Campaigns Countering Violent Extremism
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How Islamic is "Islamic Studies"?

YouTube, How Islamic is "Islamic Studies"? Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Distinguished Lecture
I haven't seen this in fully yet.
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Jihadology

Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, Don't Shut Down the Internet's Biggest Jihadi Archive, 10 Dec 2018 Discover More…

IS 'History'

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, The Islamic State Research Office's Self-History

Long read, with lots of interesting detail. I haven't gone through it all yet.
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Jihadology Access Concerns

David Bond, ft.com, How extremist videos are hitting UK relations with US tech groups, 2 Dec 2018
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Racial bias: report

Guardian, Revealed: the stark evidence of everyday racial bias in Britain, 2 Dec 2018

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Research on Reddit

vox-pol, Upvoting Extremism, Part I: An Assessment Of Extreme Right Discourse On Reddit
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Uighur monitoring

Scoop, One Million Chinese Move Uninvited Into Uighur Homes
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Panel on social media and information war in the Middle East

CFTNI, Social Media and Information War in the Middle East
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Matthew Hedges' Case

Matthew Hedges Case Discover More…

Building Resilience to Extremism and Exploitation

I'm participating in the 'Building Resilience to Extremism and Exploitation' event in Cardiff on 28 November Discover More…

Report on Fake News +

Patrik Hermansson, Hope Not Hate, Bots, Fake News and the Anti-Muslim Message on Social Media Discover More…

Research on search data

'Using Internet search data to examine the relationship between anti-Muslim and pro-ISIS sentiment in U.S. counties' research paper

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UNC Press Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks 15th Anniversary

Bruce B. Lawrence: Celebrating the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks Book Series at UNC Press

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UNC Press 15th Anniversary celebration

UNC Press is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks series, which I have had the privilege of contributing to. Great team to work with.
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CPF

CFP, Sociology of Religion Study Group (SocRel) Annual Conference 2019, 'Communicating Religion', 9-11 July 2019, Cardiff University [PDF] Discover More…

Asian Image, 'Criminalising thoughts': How Muslims are being targeted in new Counter-terrorism bill

Asian Image, 'Criminalising thoughts': How Muslims are being targeted in new Counter-terrorism bill Discover More…

The Cost of Crying Victory: Policy Implications of the Islamic State’s Territorial Collapse

Liesbeth van der Heide, Charlie Winter and Shiraz Maher, The Cost of Crying Victory: Policy Implications of the Islamic State’s Territorial Collapse report "In light of the territorial demise of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, this report analyses the continued risks posed by IS. " Discover More…

'Islamic State' Genocide: Report

NPR, Islamic State Dumped At Least 6,000 Bodies In Mass Graves In Iraq, U.N. Says

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Islam in Britain blog

I continue to maintain my Islam in Britain blog. Some of the materials cross-over into the themes of this blog. Discover More…

UWTSD Academic focusses on Islam in cyberspace with new book release

University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UWTSD Academic focusses on Islam in cyberspace with new book release

"An international publication focussing on how cyber-Islamic environments are transforming religious authority has been released by a UWTSD Lampeter based academic."


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Trump and Far-Right

Trump and the far-right article by JM Berger Discover More…

Digital Middle East

New book 'Digital Middle East' looks very promising. Discover More…

Salafism in America

Salafism in America Discover More…

Research Archive

J.M. Berger has provided an archive of research materials, via archive.org. Check this thread for more details. His book is recommended. Part of the archive is here

Google Scholar issues

Benefits of Google scholar, and their implications Discover More…

Can We Finally Stop Terrorists From Exploiting Social Media?

Kalev Leetaru, Forbes.com, Can We Finally Stop Terrorists From Exploiting Social Media?, 9 Oct 2018
" … for all their public discourse, the platforms have taken little concrete action, reflecting both the economic realities that they have little incentive to invest in content moderation and the real-world complication that deleting terrorist content requires understanding context, not blindly deleting any post with a given keyword."

Follow Me, Akhi.

Forthcoming in 2019

Kesvani-72-RGB

Hussein Kesvani, Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims, Hurst & Co
"What does it mean to be Muslim in Britain today? If the media is anything to go by, it has something to do with mosques, community leaders, whether you wear a veil, and what your views on religious extremists are. But as all our lives become increasingly entwined with our online presence, British Muslims are taking to social media to carve their own narratives and tell their own stories, challenging stereotypes along the way."
Looking forward to seeing this.

Related Research

Richard A. Nielsen, Deadly Clerics: Blocked Ambition and the Paths to Jihad (Cambridge University Press, 2017)

I was interested to see information on this book, published in 2017. I haven't read it yet (just ordered a copy). Dr Richard Nielsen is also working on issues associated with religious authority and the internet. I will update on the book once I have read it.

Counter-Islamophobia Toolkit

Middle East Eye, Muslims in Europe facing 'hostility in everyday life', Islamophobia study finds "European academics and policy makers came together at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday to launch what they describe as a "toolkit" to tackle Islamophobia across the continent." Toolkit link here: Counter-Islamophobia Toolkit – Prof. Ian Law, Dr Amina Easat-Daas and Prof. S. Sayyid

FlockWatch

Sam Jackson, Vox-Pol, FlockWatch: Tracking Changes in Language in Text Datasets Over Time, 26 Sep 2018

Important research tool discussed by its developer, which allows for language flexibility in data capture. I haven't tried FlockWatch yet.

Prisons and Radicalisation

Independent, How British prisons became a breeding ground for Islamist extremism "Ian Acheson, a former prison governor who led the review, told The Independent that a “lethal combination of arrogance and ineptitude at the top meant that the scale of the problem was not remotely understood”."

Useful summary with links to reports.

Countering Islamist Radicalisation in Germany

New and noted: ICCT, Countering Islamist Radicalisation in Germany – A Guide to Germany’s Growing Prevention Infrastructure refers to Behnam T., Said and Hazim Fouad. “Countering Islamist Radicalisation in Germany – A Guide to Germany’s Growing Prevention Infrastructure.” The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague 9 (2018). [Haven't read this yet]

Debunking Myths on Gender and Extremism

Rachel Bryson, Debunking Myths on Gender and Extremism, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, "In this collection of papers, experts weigh in on assumptions about women’s roles in violent Islamist extremism that hold back informed policymaking."

Building Resilience for Terrorism Researchers

Peter King, Vox-Pol, Building Resilience for Terrorism Researchers, September 19, 2018
While this is not my immediate area, I appreciate many of the points made by Peter King in this article relating to methodology and subject related 'fatigue' and stress.

Memes and Madhabs

Faisal Ali, On Religion, Memes and Madhabs 15 September 2018

"The memes started a few weeks back by
Zain Siddiqi, a young Muslim from Phoenix, Arizona.
“It began as a bit of fun” he told me. “I really enjoy making memes, but I also enjoy studying Islamic law and different aspects of the religion.”
“Initially I just thought I would tweet one out and it would get 10 likes or something, and I would just go back to making mundane political commentary on whatever was happening” he continues. “But all of a sudden people were saying how much they enjoyed them and how much they were learning from them.”

Diversity in Islam approached through memes.


Contesting identities within cultural insecurity

Currently taking a look at this interesting thesis, which draws on a number of elements associated with the study of cyber Islamic Environments. Kathleen Woodhouse-Ledermann, Contesting identities within cultural insecurity: The case of Muslim women in contemporary France (Rutgers, 2018) [PDF download]

Lessons From ISIS: Using the Internet for Counter-Terrorism

The Quint, Lessons From ISIS: Using the Internet for Counter-Terrorism "Bloom and Daymon in their research paper titled ‘Assessing the Future Threat: ISIS’s Virtual Caliphate’ join a chorus of other researchers such as Charlie Winter and Haroro J Ingram from the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) at The Hague in highlighting how ISIS has, by design and impeccable execution, changed the way the internet can be used for radicalisation.."

I discuss similar themes in 'Hashtag Islam'.

Also see
Mia Bloom and Chelsea Daymon, Assessing the Future Threat: ISIS's Virtual Caliphate
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