The geographical location of supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a difficult thing to discern as social media account locations are not easy to verify.
However, it is important to consider the geographical locations of online support for ISIL because such information gives us insight into the different strategic motivations behind ISIL’s social media strategy, as well as the impressive reach of ISIL’s online presence.
We examine two different studies that geolocate online supporters of ISIL to give an idea of their global spread of influence.
The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College published a report in April that analysed the social media activity of 114 individuals, mapping these foreign fighters’ social media networks. It is important to note that this research was done before ISIL’s social media campaign gained mainstream attention and infamy, and prior to the emergence of James Foley’s beheading video in August 2014.
In their report, #Greenbirds: Measuring Importance and Influence in Syrian Foreign Fighter Networks, the ICSR revealed the countries of origin of the foreign fighters they were mapping.
The methodology used to discern a foreign fighter’s country of origin involved coding their nationality based on anecdotal evidence. That is, whether they self-identified in the content of their social media activity, such as in tweets, profile information or status updates. This did not always occur, and in such a cases, these foreign fighters were coded as unknown.
The results of this report can be found in the map below:
Click image to enlarge / Figures via ICSR Report
Conversely, the BBC’s Mukul Devichand analysed the geographical location of ISIL on social media based on where their message was being picked up.
Despite the difficulty of verifying the location of social media accounts, BBC Trending has mapped online activity by tracking tweets and posts using ISIL’s key slogan “baqiyah” (translates as “it shall remain” or “will remain forever”) as a hashtag.
Based on their results, they deduced that the intended message of the social media campaign differs depending on the location it is published.
“Inside Iraq it’s partly to spread disinformation and to project strength, despite the fact that the government how has an internet block out,” explains Devichand in the video below. “But their hashtag is also being used widely in the Gulf, and here it has a different purpose. [ISIL] are soliciting for wealthy donors.”
According to Devichand, the strategy changes again when messages are retweeted in Western countries, where the purpose to recruit more fighters.
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