ISIS’ Newest Propaganda Weapon: An Android App

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ISIS is known for its advanced application of propaganda techniques, far more so than their predecessors. Ghost Security Group, an online hacktivist collective whose goal is combating ISIS online, has discovered a new tool employed by the terrorist group. Amaq News Agency, a group reputedly associated with ISIS, has been distributing an Android app, a propaganda mouthpiece masquerading as a news portal. The revelation comes from Michael S Smith of Kronos Advisory, a defence contractor that serves as an intermediary between the US government and Ghost Security.

The “Amaq Agency” app is quite full-featured. It has a scrolling, live-updating news feed and video playback, as well as options to control font-size, and the option to update the app automatically. The relatively advanced nature of the app displays a rising level of sophistication on the part of ISIS. The group is evidently the first terrorist organisation to be fully digitally-native, and is using its know-how to disastrous effect. ISIS has a sophisticated digital strategy to approach potential recruits, and to facilitate communication between current members.

Ghost Security Group, similarly to certain factions of Anonymous, focuses on combating ISIS’ efforts online. They claim to have “terminated over 100,000 extremist social media accounts” used to recruit, send threats, and spread propaganda. Ghost Security discovered the “Amaq Agency” app after infiltrating an ISIS channel on the messaging app Telegram. To download the app a user can’t log on to a service like the Google Play Store. Rather, the link to the app is shared between ISIS members and followers. This makes tracking usage statistics especially difficult, and it is not currently known how many users have downloaded the app.