Virtually Islamic Blog

Gary R. Bunt

Social media

Social Media & Ramadan

VOA, Learning English, Technology, Social Media and Ramadan Discover More…

Iran Attorney Sentenced

Radio Farda, Attorney, Rights Defender Sentenced To 30 Years, Flogging In Iran Discover More…

Religious Influencers

Techpoint Africa, How religious influencers are using social media to gain followers for their faith
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US IS supporter & social media

Ellie Hall, Buzzfeed, An Alabama “ISIS Bride” Wants To Come Home. Can We Forgive Her Horrifying Social Media Posts? Discover More…

Sri Lanka bombing (updated)

CNN, Sri Lanka's social media ban won't solve its misinformation problem
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Male Guardianship Tweets

Stepfeed, Saudi father criticizes the male guardianship system in viral tweet
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Male Guardianship Tweets

Stepfeed, Saudi father criticizes the male guardianship system in viral tweet
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Megaphones in Mosques

Stepfeed, Saudi cleric says megaphones should only be used for 'adhan' in mosques
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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…

Hijabi Influencers

CNET, At home in my hijab: How the internet helped me embrace modest clothing Discover More…

'The Dark Side of Social Media'

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

'State of Social Media: Middle East 2018'

al-Bawaba, 5 Takeaways on Social Media in the Middle East in 2018 According to Oregon’s School of Journalism

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Managing the hate online when you're young, female and Muslim

BBC News, Ruqaiya Haris: managing the hate online when you're young, female and Muslim
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KSA 'Ghost Accounts'

al Bawaba, The Strange Case of Twitter's Verified Saudi Arabian 'Ghost Accounts'

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KSA Documentary

BBC iPlayer, The Real Saudi Arabia: Why I Had to Leave Discover More…

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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Russians got more impact from regular social media posts than ads in election misinformation campaign

CNBC, Russians got more impact from regular social media posts than ads in election misinformation campaign Discover More…

'Fake News', WhatsApp and India

Wired, How WhatsApp Fuels Fake News and Violence in India
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Football

A couple of interesting links to football content (from the Middle Eastern perspective) Discover More…

Like War: The Weaponization of Social Media

European Eye on Radicalization, P. W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking. Like War: The Weaponization of Social Media
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Iran Messaging Apps Policies

Radio Farda, Iran To Tighten Grip On Cyberspace, Messaging Apps, 6 Dec 2018 Discover More…

Kashmir insurgents kill civilians

D.W.com, Kashmir insurgents kill civilians over spying suspicions, 4 Dec 2018
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Allegations: Jamal Khashoggi's private WhatsApp messages may offer new clues to killing

CNN, Jamal Khashoggi's private WhatsApp messages may offer new clues to killing, 4 Dec 2018 Discover More…

IS Telegram

BBC Monitoring, Analysis: IS steps up use of Telegram 'groups' feature
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Radio and Social Media against Radicalisation

Rey-Luis Banagudos, Philippine News Agency, Using radio, social media to advocate peace, 2 Dec 2018
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Deplatforming Impact

Bijan Stephen, The Verge, Death of a provocateur


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How Instagram hides behind Facebook – and rakes in billions

Scott Greer, Medium/Guardian, How Instagram hides behind Facebook – and rakes in billions
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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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KSA 'inside-out abaya'

A prominent campaign has appeared on social media from SaudiArabia relating to dress codes over the past week.

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IS responsibility issues

Mina Al-Lami‏ @Minalami has a significant Twitter thread on IS responsibility issues Discover More…

Spotify in Middle East

tahawultech.com, Calling all music lovers: Spotify now available in Middle East
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IS Gab

Jihadoscope, Islamic State supporters boast of presence on controversial social media network Gab [via Twitter]

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Morocco social media and hadith

Said Temsamani, Eurasia Review, Morocco: Interactive Radio, TV And Social Media To Enhance True Values Of Islam – OpEd Hadith centred programme promoted by Moroccan King Mohammed VI. Discover More…

#TrollTracker

medium.com, #TrollTracker: Twitter Troll Farm Archives. Part ThreeAssessing an covert Iranian social media influence campaign

Exploitation online

Reddit issues and the 'morality' of watching death online (implications in the e-jihad zone too)
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Canadian social media IS captive

Muhammed Ali was active on IS social media: GlobalNews.ca, ‘I just want to go back’: Canadian ISIS fighter captured in northern Syria speaks out



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."

Muzmatch campaign

Muzmatch campaign

The dating agency Muzmatch, who I discuss briefly in
Hashtag Islam, have a new advertising campaign that picked up some traction on social media. See this article: Birmingham Mail, Why these new Muslim dating ads featuring Adele and Lionel Richie are making people laugh in Birmingham, 19 Sep 2018

Muzmatch campaign

Egypt: Social Media uproar on schools issue

BBC News, News from Elsewhere, Mickey Mouse expelled from Egypt schools, 28 Sep 2018 " ... Governor Marzouk's decree has come in for mockery on social media, with many users arguing that the authorities need to focus more on crammed classrooms and old-fashioned teaching methods."

Facebook recruiters jailed

Agence France Presse, The Daily Star, Spain court gives Facebook Daesh recruiters prison sentences, 26 Sep 2018 "A Spanish court has sentenced four people to prison terms of up to seven years for recruiting and indoctrinating supporters, mainly young Muslim women, for Daesh (ISIS) via Facebook."

'One Day in the Haram'

Review of 'One Day in the Haram':

Leslie Felperin, Guardian, One Day in the Haram review – a fascinating glimpse inside Islam's holiest site, 6 Sep 2018

"A trip to the mosque’s social media office offers an insight into how modern technology is used to service ancient traditions, and that tension between old and new is woven throughout the movie, which is in itself an artefact representative of that duality."

I discuss the issue of social media and pilgrimage in 'Hashtag Islam'.

I'm looking forward to seeing this. As it stands in the UK, it is only available on Amazon Prime at present. I'm hoping that a DVD release is imminent.

Hashtag Islam video

Promo film for 'Hashtag Islam'

'The next billion users': Google targets India's lucrative mobile market

Guardian, 'The next billion users': Google targets India's lucrative mobile market, 11 Sep 2018

"As mobile markets in developed world near saturation, Google rolls out Neighbourly, its first Indian-inspired social network"
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