eJihad: Behind the Use of Social Media by ISIS

Abstract

As part of the rapid development of the Islamist media landscape, eJihad is the cross-media propaganda and key recruitment tool of the global Jihadist movement for attracting young people to pseudo-religious terror worldwide, particularly through social media activities of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL or Daesh). The chapter focuses on the development of eJihad since the late 1970s up to the present and shows how digital technologies greatly expand propaganda opportunities for Jihadist groups, by using professional and modern internet and social media strategies as well as Hollywood-style audio-visual aesthetics targeting at global youth audiences.